The dam and a network of channels along the Nogoa River supplies water for the Emerald Irrigation Area.

[6] Within a week inundations had caused severe disruptions to graziers, crops growers and to residents of Emerald when waters broke its banks.

The Nogoa peaked at 15.4 m (51 ft) in Emerald on the night of January 22 2008, causing more than 2500 people to be evacuated.

[8] In December 2010 - January 2011 the river was impacted by major flooding at Emerald[9] and in the Nogoa's upper catchment.

[10] The traditional owners include the Gayiri people who occupied the area for tens of thousands of years before European colonisation began in the nineteenth century.