[1] The reservoir is 25 km from Lonavala and is increasingly getting popular as picnic and camping site for visitors from Pune and Mumbai.

In January 2018, after the death of a techie due to drowning, the Water Resources Department of the state government sent notices of eviction to 250 camping sites, alleging activities such as illegal consumption of liquor and drugs, boating in the dam reservoir, and causing damage to the local ecosystem.

[5] The catchment areas around the lake and the hills along the waterbody are being used by Bollywood actors, traders, industrialists, and sportspersons to build farmhouses and mansions, most of them illegal, destroying the biodiversity of Pavana Lake and surrounding areas and destabilising the terrain.

In July 2018, a petition was filed with the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) Pune bench against such construction around the lake.

[6] In December 2018, a fisherman caught a giant alligator gar, a fish native to North America, in the Pavana Dam backwaters, again raising questions about the safety and illegal activities around the lake and its surrounding areas.