The primary purpose of the dam and its reservoir, Upper Sûre Lake, is to provide municipal water supply and hydroelectric power generation.

The dam is operated jointly by the Administration of Roads and Bridges and the Syndicate des Eaux du Barrage d'Esch-sur-Sûre (SEBES) while the power station is operated by Société Electrique de l'Our (SEO).

The dam sits at the head of a 428 km2 (165 sq mi) catchment area and creates the Upper Sûre Lake which has a total volume of 59,000,000 m3 (48,000 acre⋅ft).

Downstream of the dam there are three weirs fitted with Kaplan turbines with a total installed capacity of 550 kW.

A design for a chute spillway on the left abutment of the dam have been drafted but not implemented.