The dam forms the long, narrow Loveland Reservoir, which stores 25,387 acre-feet (31,314,000 m3) of water.

[1] It is operated primarily for flood control and municipal water storage in conjunction with downstream Sweetwater Dam.

[2] The dam stands 203 feet (62 m) high and spans 765 feet (233 m) across the narrow gorge of the Sweetwater River, 2.4 miles (3.9 km) south of Alpine.

[3] The dam is named after Chester H. Loveland, president of the California Water and Telephone Corporation, the firm that built it.

[4] The Loveland Reservoir is considered a better water storage facility than Sweetwater because of its much smaller surface area (454 acres compared to 960) and comparable capacity, thus it is less vulnerable to evaporation.