[3][4] The reservoir is bordered to the west by the Tsuut’ina Nation reserve, to the north by the communities of Lakeview and North Glenmore, to the east by the neighbourhood Eagle Ridge (which sits on the peninsula alongside Heritage Park), and to the south by the communities of Oakridge, Palliser, and Pump Hill.

City Alderman John Goodwin Watson proposed a gravity water supply fed from the Elbow River in April 1907.

[5] The issue of water scarcity and runoff continued to compound in the 1920s with the Calgary Herald reporting the muddy conditions of the Elbow and Bow River in April 1926.

[6][7] The City of Calgary would eventually receive approval for a dam and reservoir from the Government of Canada under the Irrigation Act in the late 1920s.

[8] With the necessary federal approval and financing in place, the city began purchasing land in the area necessary to complete the project.

[10] Mayor Andrew Davison turned the first sod in a ceremony on July 26, 1930, to inaugurate the largest infrastructure project undertaken by the city to date.

First concrete was poured on October 13, 1930, and in the fall of 1931 McDiarmid began construction of the water purification plant.

[7] The expensive land purchases and growing cost of the project led to a judicial inquiry headed by Supreme Court of Alberta Justice Albert Ewing in 1932.

The inquiry investigated all aspects of the project's financing including land acquisitions, awarding of contracts, labour practices and management.

[7] When the area flooded (by the summer of 1933), part of the Livingston house was preserved and now stands in Heritage Park, which borders the reservoir.

City officials urged Calgarians, particularly the 350,000 people who worked downtown, to stay home and limit non-essential travel.

[14] In 2018, a three-year project began to upgrade the ageing Glenmore Dam, increasing its capacity and improving its flood resistance.

During periods when the rate flow of the Elbow River reaches dangerous levels, water may be released from the dam to prevent overflow.