Purposes for the dam include flood mitigation, hydro-power, irrigation, water supply and conservation.

The dam was built by consortium including Morrison, Knudsen, Utah and Mcdonald on behalf of the New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation for town water supplies, river flows and domestic requirements, irrigated agriculture, industry, flood mitigation and environmental flows.

The uncontrolled concrete chute spillway is capable of discharging 2,350 cubic metres per second (83,000 cu ft/s).

The addition of the parapet wall increased the crest height to 114 metres (374 ft).

Storage capacity and water releases from the dam were not altered by the upgrade.