The lake is part of the Kolubara river watershed, as Jablanica is one of the headwaters which form the Kolubara, notorious for the flooding, especially of the town of Valjevo. Though it still wasn't completed, the reservoir was pivotal in protecting Valjevo during the 2014 Southeast Europe floods. The reservoir received the surplus of the water brought by the torrents and often flooded Valjevo suffered no damage. This fact was used in public debates about the lake, concerning the flooding of the church. The preventing of the flooding was often used as an exemplary of proper reaction in such situation, amidst the mostly weak reaction of the other parts of the protective system and the government in general (see Paljuvi Lake).