EBMUD Shaking the Ground West of Lafayette Reservoir

How many of you here in Lamorindaland believe that the Lafayette Reservoir supplies our household water? I see a few hands raised in affirmation. Sorry, you hand-wavers must slink to the rear of the class for the remainder of the period, although we won't make you wear a dunce cap. This misconception is more common than you may think.

Truth is, our beloved Reservoir is not, never has been and, barring the unforeseen, never will be a source for diluting your mother-in-law's highballs, washing your clothes, shampooing Fido or sprinkling the front walk. Per sign posted at dam: Rez water is not potable. Or even drinkable. End of story? Nope.

As you read this, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has under way a $5.7-million project which, when completed – target is fall of 2011 – will provide many Lafayette households with a regular supply of water for everyday, all-purpose use.

To be tapped, literally, is a new 2.7-million-gallon storage tank being carved into the hillside just west of the entrance on Mount Diablo Boulevard. 

At present, there is no water storage tank anywhere to be found on the treasured thousand-acre preserve. The water Lafayetters use emanates from the Mokelumne River via a 90-mile aqueduct from the Sierra mountains. Tastes great, too, doesn't it, save perhaps from, say, that moss-encrusted faucet near your condemned tool shed.
  
Work on the storage tank itself will commence once the circular concrete retaining wall – now visible from atop the rim trail – is built. After the tank is enclosed, all that will be visible – and then only to birds and low-flying aircraft – will be the top.

The temporary access road off Mt. Diablo Boulevard will be closed and made to look like what was there before, basically nothing. Vegetation, including a tiny forest of trees – grow fast, grow fast! -- will serve as camouflage.

What precipitates the project? Has the supply of water here been deemed inadequate? Complaints to EBMUD? No and no, according to Nora Harlow, the community affairs representative with whom I spoke.

EBMUD is thinking inside the tank, bless them. "We need to assure customers of a reliable source of daily water down the road," she said. Although at present we are not in a water-rationing situation, there is no telling what Mother Nature has in store. Another dry winter and we could be. Hence the S.O.S. for storage.

Once officials open the spigot, water from the new tank will flow to all Lafayette residences and businesses lying below the level of what's been christened the Highland Reservoir Project. Exactly how many customers this affects, Harlow isn't sure, though if your home is below the elevation of the new tank, you're likely on tap for Highland H20.