Ophora Puts the Nature Back into Water

Oxygen and water. These two components make up the essence of life and as far as we know, are the two necessities for being and staying alive. Of course, as air and water pollution continue to escalate throughout the world, finding clean sources of either is an endless pursuit for those hoping to lead a healthy life. 

Mountain rivers, lakes, and springs used to be the epitome of pure water – naturally rich with oxygen and supportive minerals from the earth beneath them – but even these have now been found to be contaminated with microplastics and other foreign chemicals. From our water sources to even our organic beers, microplastics have splintered their way into every ecosystem around us with it being thought that people are consuming an average of five grams of microplastics a week, equivalent to about the weight of a credit card. 

It was this set of challenges that Ken Guoin and Christen Brown founded Ophora Water Technologies on. “[Ken] grew up on high mountain lakes and I grew up around streams, so we know the way that nature intended water to be. We know exactly how it is supposed to taste. The energy you get from oxygen when it is actually in water. Because [oxygen] has decreased a lot on our planet – in the atmosphere and in our water. So that’s what inspired us,” says Brown. 

Since starting in 2010, Guoin, Brown, and their team have engineered a 14-step water purification process (with four patents) that is designed to recreate the chemistry, oxygen levels, and taste of how water used to be found in nature. This includes filtering it to the nano-level where pesticides, pharmaceutical compounds, and microplastics are removed. Filter mediums can often contain plastics themselves, however Ophora incorporates organic coconut and walnut shell-based carbon substrates that are free of these materials. 

“And then it’s built back up from there,” adds Tony Pennington, Ophora’s lead engineer and operations manager. “So we do the ozonation, vortexing, the oxygenation restructuring, and organic minerals added back to the water. It’s shuffling. Very simple and powerful. There’s not a bunch of chaotic other chemicals and minerals. Just potassium, magnesium, calcium, and a little bit of sodium for electrons.” 

Many reverse osmosis systems (common in households and bottled water) have been criticized for stripping away too much of the mineral content in water. Part of the Ophora system recreates the hydrostatic and mineral processes found in nature, including a rose quartz stage, that reincorporates these vital minerals and alkalizes the water to an ideal pH balance of 8.0-8.5.

The system also considers bacteria, viruses, and other bio-contaminants with a UV light system incorporated into the post-filtration stages, along with the oxygenation stages that add the life-giving gas and help further protect the water from biological contaminants.

Because this is a water purification system, their engineers can custom design the filter mediums and set them up to process any water chemistry. “Source water doesn’t matter and that’s the beauty of our engineering – is we can go anywhere in the country and produce the same water,” states Guoin. While their offices are in Carpinteria, the main bottling plant is in Dallas with a high-speed bottling plant set to come online soon in Palm Springs, sitting on the large Coachella
Valley aquifer. 

And the results are in, with Ophora winning the Best Tasting Water in the Purified Water category three times (2018, 2021, 2022) at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, commonly called the “Olympics of Water.” Their “hyper-oxygenated” bottled water is available in 750 mL or half-gallon glass containers, and are being shipped around the world and have become a popular choice at high-end natural food stores
like Erewhon. 

Due to their system being reliant on its engineering and not necessarily the water source, one of their most popular offerings is the point-of-use systems that can be installed in homes, offices, or anywhere there is access to a water line. This includes the Bio-Renew setup that is installed under the counter like any other home water filtration device. 

The Bio-Quantum system is a best seller and operates like the water coolers so often centered around the office banter. Of course there are some key differences than a standard five-gallon water cooler setup. The device is installed directly to a water line, meaning that there is no need to arrange deliveries or store large water jugs onsite, helping free up office space or scheduling hassles. Any of their water systems are designed for longevity and ease of use, with filters only needing to be changed annually. 

The home systems produce water with a 10 parts per million (ppm) level of oxygen (compared to the two to four ppm for tap water) while the bottled water uses a more elaborate setup to bring the oxygen levels up to 40 ppm, the bottling lines incorporating oxygen meters to test the gas content in real time. 

While these Bio-Quantum and Bio-Renew systems are popular models, Ophora also offers a full filtration setup that can be plumbed directly into the home water piping, or an Ultra Estate Model that features large-scale setup for estates and commercial properties like hotels or even a spa. 

On that note, with the skin being the largest organ of the human body and notable for its regulation and uptake of oxygen, pool and spa setups are one of Ophora’s burgeoning specialties. Many residential and commercial spas, pools, and saunas are still relying on municipal water sources that bring all of the chlorine and other chemicals that come with these sources. The Ophora spa setups allow the relaxer to soak in the Ophora water, free of these contaminates and benefitting from the higher oxygen levels. 

“We’ve discovered through testing you can actually absorb more oxygen in 20 minutes sitting in our hot tub than you can drinking it. Actually, soaking in it is more powerful than drinking, when you combine the two it takes it over the top.”

Fortunately with Ophora’s line of offerings, one can enjoy both soaking and drinking – ideally while toasting water and oxygen – the essence of life.