The dam was given its current name by royal permission in 1966, in honour of princess Ubol Ratana, the eldest child of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The dam is multi-purpose: electricity generation, irrigation, flood control, transportation, fisheries, and as tourist attraction.

Additionally, a 6 MWh [4] BESS (Battery Electric Storage System) was added to provide power when switching between the two sources of generation.

With no usable storage it cannot provide irrigation water, cannot generate electricity, and its fish population is dying.

According to the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute, as of 3 April 2016, sixteen Thai dams are at critically low levels of usable reservoir storage.