Poondi reservoir

Poondi Lake or Sathyamoorthy reservoir is the reservoir across Kotralai River in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu State. It acts as the important water source for Chennai city which is 60 km away.HistoryPoondi Reservoir was constructed in 1944 across the Kosathalaiyar River or Kotralai River in Thiruvallur district with a capacity of 2573 Mcft and placed in service for intercepting and storing Kosathalaiyar River water. Surplus water flows down the river which is again intercepted by Tamaraipakkam Anicut and diverted to Sholavaram Lake and Puzhal lake. . This reservoir was constructed at the cost of Rupees 65 lakhs. Satyamurti who is remembered today as the political mentor of Kumaraswami Kamaraj, who was the Chief Minister of the State between 1954-1963. Because of his strong devotion to Satyamurti, Kamaraj got the Poondi reservoir named after Satyamurti.The original complex of Oondreswarar Temple is believed to have been built by Cholas, while the present masonry structure was built during the 16th century. The temple was moved to the current location in 1942 to ease the construction of the reservoir.1972: Construction of lined channelThe construction of a lined channel from Poondi to Tamaraipakkam for a length of 15 km. to convey water from Poondi to Tamaraipakkam was completed in 1972 to reduce the transmission loss. The combined capacities of Sholavaram and Redhills lakes were increased by 700 Mcft by raising the lake bunds. Thus, the combined storage capacity of Poondi, Sholavaram and Redhills was increased to 6296 Mcft (Poondi: 2573 + Cholavaram: 881 + Redhills: 2842). The irrigation rights of Sholavaram lake and Redhills lake were acquired in 1962 and the entire storage was made available for the City supply.