Hawaii residents typically get great water from their kitchen sinks thanks to underground aquifers that predominantly supply public taps. It’s so good, in fact, that a California company has been bottling the stuff from a municipal standpipe and selling it for a premium.

Waiakea Inc. has made a name for itself selling Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water in retail stores including Whole Foods that carry the “naturally filtered” water with an “award winning tasting profile.”

Yet the company’s water isn’t too different from what residents in Pahoa on Hawaii island get in their homes.

That’s because Waiakea fills giant tanks from a county tap and ships the containers to California where the water is filtered and bottled.

On the shelf at local health food store Down to Earth Organic and Natural, a 1-liter bottle sells for $2.69.

Culver City, Calif.-based Waiakea, which was recognized in Forbes magazine last year for incredible growth and a $10 million value, said it isn’t being untruthful or doing anything wrong.

“It’s a really fantastic water,” said Ryan Emmons, Waiakea’s founder and CEO.

Emmons claims that his company, which won an award from the National Restaurant Association last year, is being smeared by a competitor and former business partner who filed complaints with regulators alleging that Waiakea is committing fraud.

That former business partner, Hawaii Volcanic Water, said in a statement that it didn’t file the complaints but that it was curious where Waiakea was getting its water after an arrangement between the two companies, which included tapping a natural spring in Keaau used by Hawaii Volcanic, was dissolved following a dispute.

Falling out

Waiakea was established about four years ago by Emmons, who envisioned the brand as a premium product with an environmentally sensitive footprint and social benefit. The last part, Emmons said, is a major product differentiator and involves donating 650 liters of clean water to disadvantaged communities in Africa in partnership with London-based nonprofit Pump Aid for every Waiakea bottle sold.

Emmons initially tried to set up a production plant in Keaau in cooperation with Hawaii Volcanic, a company led by Jason Donovan. But after the falling-out, Waiakea began working with a bottler in California.

Emmons said Waiakea’s water used to come from an artesian well in Hilo, and he sold bottles out of a truck to give the brand its start on a shoestring. About two years ago, as demand was growing, Emmons said he switched to the county water supply.

The public tap is a standpipe on the side of a highway in Pahoa that Hawaii County set up so residents can supplement catchment supplies when rainfall is low. Residents can purchase this water, which truckers deliver after filling up at the pipe.

From pipe to premium

The Hawaii County Department of Water Supply said Waiakea has been buying water from the standpipe since late 2012 and averages 1,000 to 2,000 gallons a day, according to recent bimonthly bills. The county charges less than 1 cent per gallon.

Waiakea, which sells about 200,000 cases of water a year in around 2,000 stores in 30 states, describes its water as “premium by nature” because it originates from a pristine source that “offers purity in its ultimate, untainted form.”

“Waiakea volcanic water originates on the Mauna Loa volcano as arctic moisture from trade winds converts to bountiful rain or snow as it hits their mountainous slopes,” the company states on its website, waiakeasprings.com. “Our water is then naturally filtered through thousands of feet of porous lava rock which enhances it with a unique blend of life sustaining minerals before finally emerging as delicious and pure Hawaiian Volcanic mineral water.”

All of that appears true. Water from the county standpipe comes from the island’s Pahoa aquifer and is pumped up through the Keonepoko Nui well, which also is piped to homes and businesses in Pahoa.

However, the county adds chlorine to the public water supply.

Emmons said the municipal water isn’t any less good than the company’s initial source. “It still has the same minerals,” he said. “It still has the same TDS (total dissolved solids). It’s incredible water quality.”

Complaints filed

The federal Food and Drug Administration regulates bottled water as food and holds manufacturers responsible for producing safe and truthfully labeled products.

Emmons said Waiakea doesn’t run afoul of FDA regulations, though to avoid a potential controversy with state regulators, the company removed references on Waiakea labels calling the water artesian about 10 months ago. The labels now say in tiny blue print on the blue bottle that the water is “from a community water system.”

Under the FDA’s definition, artesian refers to water from “a well tapping a confined aquifer in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer.”

Emmons said taking the word “artesian” off Waiakea’s label wasn’t a big deal and that he believes the water qualifies as artesian, which requires the water to be under some natural pressure though not necessarily enough to force it out of the ground.

The Hawaii Department of Health received a complaint about Waiakea but doesn’t regulate water from Hawaii that is bottled in California.

The California Department of Public Health is looking into labeling and water source requirements associated with Waiakea in an investigation based on the complaint it received.

“The investigation is ongoing, and has not yet been concluded,” the agency said.

Waiakea states in a 2016 water quality report that its water is from a “community water source” and is treated only using carbon filtration, ultraviolet filtration and ozonation. On its bottles, labels state that the water is from the Pahoa aquifer and contains natural electrolytes and minerals.

Seeking to stand out

This makes Waiakea different from some giant bottled-water brands that use more intense processing that filters out minerals and impurities to produce purified bottled water. For instance, Dasani, which is produced by The Coca-Cola Co., uses reverse osmosis to purify tap water that is then enhanced with added minerals.

Aquafina, a Pepsico Inc. product, also is purified water that originates from public water sources. It is filtered in seven steps.

Emmons has sought to differentiate Waiakea from products like Dasani and Aquafina.

“One of the reasons why bottled water as a category is always under fire is because of what people see as the privatization of tap water — the fact that these big companies go in and pay pennies on the dollar for tap water, repackage it and sell it for a huge markup,” he was quoted as saying in an October 2014 article by industry publication FoodNavigator-USA.

Emmons said Waiakea plans to soon switch to an upgraded private artesian well in Hilo in connection with opening a processing plant on a property that he bought about 18 months ago. He said the new plant should be operating in two or three months and employ 13 people.