As a project, the damming of the Ibar for the creation of a reservoir and thus the generation of hydroelectricity existed since the 1960s to cover for the energy needs of the population and the economy of Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo which were expanding at the time.

[6][7] Serbian sources maintain that it should be recognized as the legal owner of the project as most loan obligations were transferred to Serbia in the post-Yugoslav era.

[9] In the area of the Ibar basin, a Roman necropolis and the medieval court of queen consort Helen of Anjou was located in Brnjak, near Zubin Potok where she founded a vocational course for poor girls that locals have called the first school for women in the Balkans.

[10][11] In the lake, tombstones, possibly medieval artifacts, Serbian Orthodox churches, and 19th-century houses have been found.

A team of Russian archaeologists has undertaken the project of mapping archaeological findings in the lake and investigating any possible links to antiquity.