It was built in the late 1960s and is Kilimanjaro region's largest artificial water body.

The reservoir is situated in the Pangani River Valley of the Masai Steppe, about 50 km south of Moshi.

It is fed by two major inflows, the rivers Kikuletwa and Ruvu which drain some 7,500 square kilometres (2,900 sq mi) of catchment consisting of wooded grassland, forest, true desert, and alpine desert.

[3] It was constructed for the purposes of irrigation, hydro-electric power and to start a local fishing industry.

The plan was to build a dam that would have served the purpose of storing flood flow, which would allow the development of some 30,000 acres of irrigated farming and generation of electricity power.