The lake was a location where the transported remains of Kosovo Albanians killed during the 1999 conflict were concealed. The lake is situated at an altitude of and the majority of it, some 5/6 is within Bosnia and Herzegovina, while 1/6 in Serbia, as the border between the two countries takes the route of longitudinal axes of the Drina river at the section within the canyon where the Brusnička river enters the lake, some upstream from the dam and Peruća village. The lake occupies a natural bend of the river, between Višegrad and Bajina Bašta, which bypassing Tara mountain from left to right. The dam of the hydro plant which created the lake is tall. The reservoir covers and area of with the volume of . It is long, wide and up to deep. The annual boating event, the Drina Regatta, is held on the lake. Fish species living in the lake include wels catfish, huchen, common barbel, European chub, common nase, tench and cactus roach. A mass grave containing 48 bodies and possibly more than 60 was discovered near the lake in 2001. The bodies were believed to be those of Kosovo Albanians killed by Serbian forces during the 1999 conflict, brought to the lake in a refrigerated lorry dumped there during NATO air raids. The burial site was a gravel pit on the north bank of Derventa River, close to its confluence with Lake Perućac, 13 km from Bajina Baštać and 2 km from the village of Rastiste. It contained parts of a truck refrigerator container that was used to bring the bodies. The bones and clothing retrieved showed evidence of burning. Of 48 bodies examined by the Institute of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of Belgrade Military Hospital, 38 were male, one was female, and the sex of nine could not be established. Dressed in civilian clothing, age of the victims ranged from mid-adolescence to elderly. There was considerable ballistic evidence including classic execution style gunshot wounds to the head in many cases. They had been buried for about two years and the condition of the remains indicated that they had spent some time in the water. Identity documents belonging to two persons from Djakovica were found with the exhumed bodies. Dragan Karleuša, head of the Serbian police organized crime unit responsible for investigating the grave, said that in April 1999 a freezer truck containing between 50 and 60 corpses was pushed into the lake.