Redding, California

Water Quality in Redding, California

Watershed: Olney Creek – Sacramento River

What is the water quality like in Redding, CA?

Let’s dive deeper into what’s in Redding water.

What’s in Redding water?

Here are the top 4 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer. Very High Levels.
2. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Nitrate – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are four of the 11 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

These 4 contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

See the What Can You Do? section below for all of the contaminants you can filter out and how to do it.

Where does Redding’s water come from?

Redding’s water comes from the Olney Creek – Sacramento River watershed.

Both EPA assessed water sources in the Olney Creek – Sacramento River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These are:

• Olney Creek
• Sacramento River

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition.

Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of these uses:

1. Drinking Water
2. Aquatic Life
3. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
4. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

See below for what you can do to improve Redding’s water.

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality can be surprising.

But there’s no reason to lose hope. There are things you can do in your household as well as things you can do at a community level.

In Your Household:

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out 9 of the 11 contaminants in your drinking water. (Berkey Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Redding water.
  • Brita can filter very few contaminants (and Lead depending on the filter).
    • Brita pitchers can’t filter out Arsenic, Hexavalent Chromium, Nitrate, or Radium.
    • PUR pitchers also cannot filter out Barium, Fluoride, Molybdenum, or Strontium.
• To filter out 8 of the 11 contaminants in your whole house, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your home.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Arsenic – health risks
    • Barium – health risks in water
    • Fluoride
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • Radium
    • Strontium

*Chlorination is an effective method of disinfecting/treating drinking water. You can then use a water filter to reduce the effects of chlorination byproducts to get the safest, cleanest water possible.

In Your Community:

Contact your local government officials and put pressure on them to invest in cleaner waterways and upgraded city water filtration and treatment.

Go to: https://www.cityofredding.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page