The Satyamurti Sagar at Poondi, the only dam constructed for Chennai’s drinking water requirements, is into its 80th year. Located about 58 km north-west of Chennai in Tiruvallur district, the Poondi reservoir, which is how it is called, was declared open on June 14, 1944, by the then Governor of the Madras Presidency, Arthur Hope, who had also laid its foundation on August 8, 1940. But, unlike the Mettur dam, which was inaugurated in August 1934 and named after the then Governor George Stanley, the Poondi dam, built across the Kosasthalaiyar, came to be known after its architect, S. Satyamurti (1887-1943), a Congress stalwart and contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). During 1939-40, he served the Madras Corporation as the Mayor under a system of communal rotation when the term was for one year.
