This summer, anyone walking the paved Lakeside Nature Trail watched the Lafayette Reservoir tower's roofline move closer to the water, a few weeks at a time. On Friday, July 10, 2026, crews started taking apart the top of the 1929 outlet tower. They lowered the sections with a crane on a floating barge. By the end of July the operating house was gone, and the familiar roof went with it.
The fight over the tower's height ended before the first crane arrived. Its appearance is still being settled. The piece that will define the tower's look for the next several generations is a new metal operating house designed to resemble the original, and its installation is scheduled for this fall.
What came off, ring by ring
Lamorinda Weekly reported that after removing the roof and operating house, crews saw-cut about a dozen concrete rings off the tower stem, each about 3 feet tall. In its August stakeholder update, EBMUD put the count at 13 rings, set August 21 as the date for reaching the new height, and called the tower shortened by roughly 40 feet. Bay Area Telegraph's August 24 report included a photo from August 21 that showed the tower apparently at its new height.
According to EBMUD's project page, the tower was built 40 feet too tall because the dam's height changed during construction, and shortening it brings the tower in line with the dam. The tower also serves as the reservoir's spillway, and the California Division of Safety of Dams required EBMUD to strengthen it to current seismic standards. The work did not require draining the reservoir. EBMUD's ratepayers are funding the $14 million project.
Visitors had mixed feelings about the change. Patch, citing CBS News, reported that one visitor called it "kind of sad" but said it probably needed to be done from a seismic standpoint. Another put it more simply: "They took the cap off."
How the tall version lost
The City of Lafayette argued for keeping the tower at its full height, and the argument ran for years. The City's own project page says the tower "has symbolized Lafayette for decades." It also records that the City Council and the community voiced "grave concerns" when EBMUD first presented the shortened design. The tower is older than the city itself. Lamorinda Weekly notes that Lafayette incorporated in 1968. The Lafayette Chamber of Commerce dates the reservoir's opening for public recreation to 1966.
The City's page lays out the timeline:
- July 2023. A committee of Lafayette residents with expertise in structural engineering and architecture volunteered to review the design. They told the City Council the tower could be retrofitted at its existing height and configuration, and the Council sent their recommendations to EBMUD in a letter.
- November 2023. EBMUD replied that it had reviewed the tall-tower concept and found that it would not meet seismic requirements.
- February to May 2024. The committee and EBMUD exchanged reports and met in person. In April, EBMUD told the City it was resuming final design of the shortened tower.
- August 2024. The City asked the Division of Safety of Dams to hold an independent third-party peer review.
- November 2024. The Division of Safety of Dams replied that the shortening plan satisfactorily addressed its concerns and did not open a peer review. Any alternative design had to reach the state by April 1, 2025, and construction could start no later than 2027.
- January 2025. The EBMUD Board President wrote that further public input would not be helpful, given the state's new deadlines.
The state's deadline decided the outcome. By April 2025, EBMUD's posted schedule put demolition in summer 2026. Lamorinda Weekly summed up the result in August: residents suggested alternative designs for the retrofit, and EBMUD found none of them acceptable.
What goes on top
That leaves the design of the new top as the remaining question about how the tower will look. EBMUD says the new operating house will be metal and will "closely resemble" the 100-year-old design. The utility's renderings show the shortened tower at three water levels: high, average and low. The image files are labeled "Gazebo."
Here is the sequence EBMUD laid out in August:
- Floor and supports first. Once the tower reached its new height, crews were to build new corbels and a new floor inside the existing tower.
- Operating house next. Fabrication of the new house was already underway in August, and installation was scheduled for November 2026.
- Then a pause. When the seasonal environmental work window closes later this fall, crews will stop work on the tower. They return in spring 2027 to install new underwater slide gates and electric motor operators.
- Back in service. EBMUD expects the tower to return to full operation in fall 2027.
Lamorinda Weekly gave a looser target, reporting that the new operating house should be complete by "winter 2026." Either way, the tower's new silhouette will take shape over the next several weeks. Until then, scaffolding and protective materials surround it.
Some of the old tower is being saved. Patch reported that EBMUD kept parts of the original structure, including a window from the late 1920s. EBMUD has also heard from the community about salvaging pieces of the original tower. It is considering ways to turn some of them into a "historic token" for the public and says it will update stakeholders once there is a formal plan. In early August, Bay Area Telegraph reported seeing glass-windowed pieces of the tower stacked near the reservoir entrance.
The City also invited people to preserve the old tower in their own way. During May 2026, it asked for photos, selfies, sketches and paintings of the tower tagged #lafayetterestower. Entries went into a drawing for a Bartbridge hat featuring the tower or a photo book of the reservoir. The drawing ran during the last spring before the tower was shortened.
Your loop while the work wraps up
All of this is happening at a park that Lamorinda Weekly says gets over a million visitors a year. The tower isn't the only active project on the site. EBMUD is also replacing the recreation area's sewer lift station and piping, adding backup power and communications, and renewing part of a retaining wall. That work was scheduled to run from fall 2025 through fall 2026.
| Where | What's happening | What it means on a visit |
|---|---|---|
| Lakeside Nature Trail near the barge ramp | Crews move equipment across the paved trail to reach the exit road | Flaggers on the trail, with occasional delays of 10 to 15 minutes |
| Main entrance gate | Intermittent flagging for heavy equipment and debris trucks | Short waits driving in or out, with no planned vehicle closures |
| Recreation area parking | Some spaces used for equipment storage | Fewer open spaces near the work |
| Walter Costa Trail | A 0.3-mile segment closed since September 2025 for water treatment plant work | Signed street detour, with no reopening date set |
| Mt. Diablo Boulevard | Construction trucks use the Acalanes Road on-ramp to Highway 24 | No project trucks through downtown Lafayette |
Weekends are the quiet time. Lamorinda Weekly reported that tower work is limited to weekdays, so Saturday and Sunday laps should see little disruption. Fishing, hiking and picnicking stay open throughout the project. EBMUD's 2026 fee schedule lists daily vehicle parking at $7 and a standard annual parking pass at $140.
The wildlife around the tower got some protection during the work. Because crews were working near a waterway and riparian habitat, EBMUD obtained a permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. A biological monitor was on site every workday from May through October. Crews put netting on the tower to keep birds from nesting and worked with a biologist on a plan to relocate the dusky-footed woodrat shelters, called middens, found in the work area. The monitoring list also included the western pond turtle, the California red-legged frog and the Alameda whipsnake.
After the work window closes
Once this fall's tower work wraps up, most visible construction should stop until spring 2027. Through the winter, the tower will stand about 40 feet shorter, with a new metal operating house designed to resemble the original. To get progress alerts directly, sign up through EBMUD's tower project page. EBMUD Community Affairs also takes questions at [email protected].
If you'd like to talk about what's changing around the reservoir, or about the part of Lafayette that fits your daily routine, Gillian Judge Hogan is glad to share what she knows over a lap of the Rim Trail. Work With Gillian.
