Barre Falls Dam is located on the Ware River in the towns of Hubbardston, Barre, Rutland, and Oakham, Massachusetts, and is a part of a network of flood risk management projects on tributaries of the Connecticut River.

Authorized by Congress in 1941, the project was completed in 1958 at a cost of $2 million. Barre Falls Dam was built by the Corps of Engineers to reduce flood damage from storms like those that devastated New England in 1936 and 1938. Barre Falls Dam is a "dry bed reservoir" since normally there is no water stored in the river. Visitors usually only see the water in the Ware River passing through the dam. However, if you visit after a large rainfall or a period of rapidly melting snow, you may see a lake stretching upstream of the dam. Its storage capacity of 7.9 billion gallons of water could fill a train of tank cars approximately 60 miles long.

During the record flood of 1987, the dam stored 5.4 billion gallons of water, approximately 72 percent of its maximum capacity. The dam prevented more than $3 million in damages to downstream communities during this one flood event.

The Reservoir Regulation Team (RRT) directs the water regulation activities for 31 flood damage reduction projects including Barre Falls Dam. RRT and Barre Falls Dam team members coordinate the use of radio and satellite communications and computer programs to continuously monitor river levels and weather conditions that influence water control decisions. Using these tools and first-hand observations, the Corps of Engineers can rapidly respond to the unpredictable New England weather to reduce flooding and constantly monitor river levels that influence flood damage reduction decisions. Team members at Barre Falls Dam and New England Distrist radio shop work together to ensure operational readiness of all radio equipment and facilities for the radio relay station located at the summit of Mount Wachusett in Princeton, MA.

During flood events, water releases at Barre Falls Dam are closely coordinated with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) to meet water supply diversion requirements while providing the maximum flood protection to downstream communities. The MWRA diversion facility (R.H. Lonergan Intake) is located on Route 122, approximately 4 miles downstream of the dam. The water that travels through Barre Falls Dam may be diverted at the Lonergan Intake, via the Quabbin Aqueduct, to the Quabbin Reservoir. The reservoir provides drinking water for 2.5 million metropolitan Boston residents.

Barre Falls Dam has been a weather observation site for the National Weather Service for nearly fifty years. The staff takes daily readings of the high, low, and observation air temperatures, records precipitation (rain and snow) quantities and depths, and current weather.

Barre Falls Dam is currently a test site for the NWS's new high-tech equipment that may, in addition to the above, monitor wind speed and direction, relative humidity, water vapor, soil moisture and temperature, barometric pressure, and solar radiation. New equipment was installed in 2005, and the system is operational. Data is currently being tested by the NWS for accuracy and will become the official method of observation once test data is verified as reliable.

Barre Falls Dam has been a weather observation site for the National Weather Service for nearly fifty years. The staff takes daily readings of the high, low, and observation air temperatures, records precipitation (rain and snow) quantities and depths, and current weather.