The monumental structure with its unusually thick profile played an important role in establishing an international standard for masonry gravity dams as a technology for major water supply systems.

[14] In the 19th century, the dam was built to ensure the water supply for Verviers, the center of the wool industry in Belgium.

Wool was imported through Antwerp and washed at Verviers, situated between the Ardennes and Belgium's Carboniferous region, before it was shipped for manufacture in Germany and Austria.

[23] The Belgian government assigned the study of the water supply to Bidaut, a chief engineer within the ministry, in September 1857.

Originally the plan was to impound the upper Vesdre, in a joint project with the town of Eupen, also located within the watershed and at that time part of Prussia.

These negotiations collapsed by 1864, and Bidaut turned his attention to the Gileppe, a tributary of the Vesdre entirely within the jurisdiction of the Belgian ministry.

[29] The dam's "extremely conservative proportions"[30] were shaped by the engineering ideas of J. Augustine DeSazilly, F. Emile Delocre, and W.J.M.

[36] The sandstone or limestone for the wall came from area quarries located no closer than 50 meters (164 feet) from the site and at a higher elevation than the crown.

[36] It was remarked as late as 1907 that "the average yearly work of over 54,000 cubic yards has probably never been surpassed in the construction of any other single structure."

One report claims that the faculty of medicine at Verviers began to study the problem, but had to drop their research "under pressure from the industrialists."

The solution was to lay pipe to divert water for industrial use from a treatment plant to improve drinking quality.

Formed of 183 blocks of sandstone from the Sûre valley in Luxembourg, it weighs 300 tonnes (nearly 661,387 pounds) and stands 13.5 meters tall (over 44 feet).