Redway Water Customers Face Boil Advisory During Hydrant Installation Work

Boiling tap water for one full minute is mandatory for all Redway Community Services District customers through 10:30 p.m. tonight, after crews shut down the distribution system overnight Monday to install a new fire hydrant and isolation valves.

The four-hour outage began at 10:30 p.m. March 30, following a notice RCSD posted March 27. Any planned pressure interruption creates conditions in which contaminants can enter distribution lines, which is why the district issued the 24-hour boil order spanning Monday night through tonight. The requirement covers drinking, cooking, baby formula, ice, brushing teeth, and washing produce.

Infants, elderly residents, pregnant people, and anyone who is immunocompromised face the greatest risk from waterborne contamination and should be especially careful to use only boiled or bottled water until the advisory lifts at 10:30 p.m. Tap water used strictly for non-ingestive purposes, such as flushing toilets, does not require boiling.

The upgrades themselves target two distinct improvements to the Redway system: the new isolation valves will allow RCSD crews to shut down discrete sections of the distribution network during future repairs without cutting service to the entire community, and the new hydrant strengthens firefighting capacity in the Redway and Southern Humboldt area. Both are considered critical infrastructure improvements for small rural water providers that must balance aging systems against limited operational budgets.

Anyone who notices discolored water or abnormally low pressure after service is restored should contact RCSD at (707) 923-3101 x3. The district's office is at 3168 Redwood Drive in Redway.

Monday's work sits within a period of broader infrastructure activity at the district. RCSD's board had separately been discussing a water-tank project that ran into contractor payment complications, a distinct matter from the March 30 outage, though the district's advisory confirmed the hydrant and valve installation would proceed as planned on schedule.