[4][7] Built and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it is used for flood control, irrigation, recreation, and local water supply.

[9] In March 1958, the nearby community of Norton, Kansas secured a contract with the U.S. government to receive 1,600 acre-feet of water annually.

[9] In 1963, the Kansas state government granted the community a water right to that amount of storage in the reservoir.

[10][11] Prairie Dog Creek is both the reservoir's primary inflow from the southwest and its outflow to the northeast.

Kansas Highway 261 runs north-south between U.S. 36 and Prairie Dog State Park on the reservoir's north shore.

Outlet works at the northwest end of the dam manage outflow into Prairie Dog Creek and the city of Norton's municipal water supply.

[6][14] The KDWP operates the 1,150-acre (4.7 km2) Prairie Dog State Park on the reservoir's north shore.

[14] The KDWP preserves two vintage 19th-century buildings in Prairie Dog State Park: a one-room schoolhouse and the last standing original adobe house in Kansas.