Experts warned that the dam would not collect water considering geological, hydro-geological, seismic, and water salinity issues. Five years after its construction, Dr. Salameh of the University of Jordan called the project a failure, since it was not able to collect any water due to a lack of water source. Moreover, farmers were deprived of water to be able to fill and test the dam, which became highly saline and unusable. This test wasted around 50 million cubic centimeters of water, costing farmers between $35 to $70 million in productivity. The bottom of the reservoir collapsed due to salinity, and large amounts of water was lost. According to Dr. Salameh from the Faculty of Science at the University of Jordan, “not a single drop of water from the dam has been of any use for any purpose until now (2004),” due to its extremely high salinity. According to Salameh, the project is a lesson learned in how consulting companies cannot always be trusted, as well as the importance of being able to hold the government accountable for projects undertaken. [1][2][3][6]

To be able to fill the dam, considering rainwater was not enough, water from the Yarmouk and Zerka Rivers was planned to be diverted into the dam through the King Abdulla Canal. This proved to be unrealistic because water from both these rivers was being fully utilized. [1]

During the investigation phase of the project, specialists warned against the construction of the dam for the following reasons, all of which have turned out to be true:

- Geological instability and fault lines passing through the dam sit, i.e. seismic risk. Two major geological weakness zones intersect on the dam site: the Dead Sea transform and the Fare'a Fault.

- Salinity of the rocks forming the dam and its reserviore sites. The rocks forming the dam site are also soft and soluble, making them unsuitable for dam construction. 

- Salt water springs at the bottom of the reservoir area, where salty artesian groundwater is discharged, also containing solid rock particles.

- Lack of water resrouces to fill the dam

- Urgent need for water projects in other area of the country

These warnings were all ignored by the relevant authorities. [1][6] Moreover, the dam requires high maintenance costs of its facilities, such as pumps, which are exposed to corrosion due to the salinity of the water. As such, the government has been paying for he maintenance of the facilities, interest cost of the project loans, as well as the cost of the employees. [1] According to Dr. Salameh: "This project proved to be a hard lesson, not only learnt by Jordan, but also by other areas of the world, where decent scientific work defending the common good is ignored for the greed of a few beneficiaries." [1]

The lake has a surface of 4 squared Km. [1]

This earth fill dam has a 55 Million Cubic Meters storage volume. It is 45m high and 2050m long, with a 10m wide crest. Draw off works include a 5.2m diameter tunnel 462m long, a 38m high intake tower, a 385m long spillway chute, 3-4m width, 6.3km of diversion canals, and 500m of diversion bunds, a pump station with 4 pumps each of 1.33 l/s capacity, and a 1.2m diameter twin conveyance pipeline of 3.6km length. [1][2][5]

It receives an average rainfall of 180 mm, while the annual potential evaporation rate is 320 mm. [4]