Growth & Jobs | Kai Springs to bring Jamaica’s water to the world

THE KAI Springs water brand, a new bottled water venture springing out of St Mary, is expected to come on stream within months and is geared at elevating Jamaica’s water to compete with the leading water brands in the world.

Kaiyah Springs Limited is expected to make a substantial investment in this new water venture that will directly benefit the community of Marley, in Dressikie, St Mary, where the water plant will be built.

The plant will employ over 70 persons when production begins, with ground expected to be broken for the project by the end of March.

Tests carried out by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica suggest the water quality that is available through the natural springs is one of the purest, measuring pH7, which compares favourably with leading bottled water brands on the market, says New York-based, Jamaica-born businessman Robert Johnson, managing director of Kaiyah Springs Limited.

“The tests prove that this is the best water in Jamaica, and certainly one of the best in the world,” Johnson confirmed to The Gleaner.

The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the body responsible for protecting human health and the environment, recommends that public water have a pH between 6.5 and 8.5. With pH range being from 0 to 14, the best pH of drinking water is said to be in the middle, at 7, as this represents pure water.

To complement the high water quality that is available, Johnson said the plant will be environmentally friendly.

“We are in the process of implementing a 100 per cent green manufacturing process, meaning no fossil fuel will be required. Kaiyah Springs Limited will be an emission-free factory,” he pointed out.

Johnson said that the global health and wellness market, for which the company is aiming, was valued at US$5.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to over US$9.36 by 2033. In the United States, the market value was US$1.28 billion in 2023, with an expected jump to US$2.8 billion by 2033.

Carlon Mohammed, a member of the Kaiyah Springs Limited team driving the project, confirmed that the focus will definitely be on the overseas market.

“Our primary market is overseas and the licence that we got allows us to extract 80,000 litres of water daily, that’s around 23 million litres annually, so we will be in a position to make an impact by our presence in the market,” Mohammed pointed out.

Fiji, Evian, Core Hydration, and Just Water are currently among the leading brands of bottled water on the market in the US, but if confidence is anything to go by, then Kai natural spring water should soon be competing worldwide, and successfully, with these elite brands for shelf space.