EBMUD and City of Lafayette Dedicate Solar Lakeside Stage Deck and Electric Pedal-Boat Dock at Lafayette Reservoir

Watershed recreation managers with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and civic leaders from the City of Lafayette dedicated a solar-powered lakeside acoustic stage deck, an electric boat-charging dock, and twelve accessible meadow picnic tables on Sunday afternoon at the Lafayette Reservoir Recreation Area at 3849 Mt. Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette. Surrounded by 928 acres of oak-and-chaparral hills and a 2.7-mile paved lakeside trail that draws more than one million annual walkers, runners, and families, the reservoir is Lamorinda's premier outdoor recreation sanctuary.

On the main lawn overlooking the eastern cove beside the Visitor Center, carpenters replaced the weathered timber bandstage with an elevated 32-foot-by-20-foot FSC-certified incense-cedar and galvanized-steel performance pergola. Topped with a 4.5-kilowatt bifacial solar roof and an integrated 15-kilowatt-hour battery bank, the stage provides silent 120-volt clean power for Lafayette school jazz bands, Rotary charity concerts, and outdoor nature lectures without running portable gas generators.

Just below the lawn at the boat rental cove, marine crews installed a new low-freeboard aluminum floating dock outfitted with ten solar-powered 24-volt DC trickle-charging slips that replenish the reservoir's fleet of electric-assist pedal boats and quiet electric fishing skiffs between weekend rentals. Twelve new concrete-and-redwood wheelchair-accessible picnic tables were also set along a newly paved lakeside promenade path overlooking the water.

The $380,000 reservoir recreation upgrade was funded jointly through EBMUD watershed recreation capital funds and a City of Lafayette community facilities grant. Visitors can check daily parking, seasonal boating rentals, and paved lakeside trail hours on the EBMUD Lafayette Reservoir Official Portal.