The lake, created by damming the Beas River in 1976, lies in Kangra District on the border with Punjab State.
Local people have rights to fish in the lake.
Lying between the outer Siwaliks and Daula Dhar, Pong Dam is the largest standing water body in Himachal Pradesh and covers about 7,000ha at its maximum extent. Mean annual rainfall is 1780mm. There is a little submerged aquatic vegetation, but the shoreline does not support much emergent vegetation due to the pronounced seasonal changes in water level. The surrounding hillsides still support some mixed deciduous and chir pine Pinus roxburghii forest. A preliminary list of the flora is given in Singh et al .