The system was designed to generate 0.82GWh per year, providing as much as 30% of the electricity required by the "Hungry Snout" pumping station, which feeds the Castle Moffat Water Treatment Works.

[4] The charity's objective is to retain the strong natural feel of the location while making the most of it for teaching people how to enjoy a range of water-based activities safely and expertly.

Prehistoric settlement in the area is represented by the Friar's Nose, a multivallate promontory fort immediately east of the reservoir.

[5] Directly across the Whiteadder valley from the fort, to the north-east of the reservoir, traces of a prehistoric settlement and field system have been recorded.

It was a monastic grange attached to Melrose Abbey and was probably built in the first half of the 15th century, though there is reference to Penshiel in a charter of 1200.

[7] The ruins of Gamelshiel Castle are located around 0.6 kilometres (0.37 mi) north-east of the northern end of the reservoir, on the south side of the Hall Burn.