Water is life. Water is health. Water is the building block for people and planet. Summer or winter, pandemic or not, urban or rural, we all need it to survive. But not all water is created equal. Enter Rising Springs.
Unprocessed, unfiltered and untouched for 16,000 years, the spring quite literally rises from a granite-protected, quartz-surrounded aquifer 2.2 miles beneath the earth’s surface at the base of the Sawtooth National Forest and wildlife expanse in Idaho, untouched in the modern era and untainted by contaminants.
"It is a chance to drink water the way your body wants to receive it, made for you by nature and free of pollutants,” says Nicoya Hecht, the co-founder of Rising Springs, a company that boxes and delivers said water directly to your door. The multihyphenate Brand Manager and lifelong water lover (who was born on a peninsula while her family was sailing around the world before being raised in Hawaii), along with her husband Grey, the CEO, became stewards of one of the oldest and purest sources in North America in 2015 because of their longtime involvement in water advocacy. They launched the family-owned brand a couple of years later to bring the product and message to the masses.
For Nicoya, water is the foundation for health. When facing a global public health crisis, people’s awareness is heightened — and with it, a search for hydration that not only supports health, but can arrive at the door in an eco-sustainable and Covid-friendly fashion. Filled with 100% geothermal spring water, Rising Springs’ packaging reads “natural mineral supplement” because of the nutrients, mineral content, high pH and levels of silica, which benefit collagen, connective tissues, hair, skin and nails. As such, it is regulated by the FDA, but you drink it by the glass as you would any water, with the same flavor, look and consistency.
“First thing in the morning and last at night is essential to me,” Nicoya shares. She doesn’t leave home without her boxes, takes Rising Springs along on trips, and adds it to tinctures, as part of a healthy and hydrated lifestyle. Pure water is the world’s first and foremost medicine, she says, quoting an ancient proverb. That stands in stark contrast to the 120,000 toxins that surround us today, only 90 of which are regulated by the EPA as it relates to water, an alarmingly low oversight that hasn’t been updated for decades. People talk frequently about health, organic and nutrition in the context of food, but not water, when that is what comprises the majority of our bodies and sustains life.
“I actually crave Rising Springs,” says Hecht, who was never much of a water drinker prior to Rising Springs, though is now studying to be a water sommelier (yes, a formal training akin to wine sommeliers, though without the extreme rigor or global prestige). While not everyone is going that route, she is far from the only convert, as sales for the brand continue to increase across an ever-growing audience of wellness gurus, health aficionados, nature lovers, conscious consumers, medical professionals and scientists. As people try Rising Springs, they understand its benefits and seek to share that with like-minded communities and the general water-drinking public.
Boxed direct-to-consumer water is not something people are necessarily accustomed to, though with the platform in place pre-Covid, Rising Springs was ready to meet the needs of people ordering everything from the safety of their homes. Subscription options and bulk ordering have wide appeal for both stocking up on goods and lowering carbon footprints.
The entire brand is carbon neutral, part of the B-corporation’s ever-deepening commitment to sustainability with quantifiable environmental targets, use of renewable energy use, 2% donations to water-related organizations (like Waterkeeper Alliance), and post-consumer recycled cardboard boxes with non-leaching plastic bladders that Rising Springs takes back in an innovative upcycling program. Transparency, quality and social responsibility are guiding values for this mission-driven business.
"It really stems from a place of shared passion for water stewardship and what a fundamental building block water is for health,” Nicoya underscores, perpetually challenging herself, her family and her company to push the boundaries around sustainability and wellness. Next up is launching Rising Springs glass bottles for a consumer base concerned with the environmental and health impacts of plastic, while figuring out how to offset the elevated carbon footprint from production and transport of the heavier product.
"Is it possible? Can we build a for-profit business with non-profit values that can support water advocacy and education?” That is the question that Nicoya continues to explore day in and day out, how the company can make water available to all, champion the health benefits of it uncontaminated straight from the source, raise awareness and funds for water-related causes, and connect people with nature, physical health and deeper meaning.
Do you know what you’re drinking? What your options are? What benefits are available to us through water? Because it might just hold the undiscovered key to wellness and optimal health.
Written for and originally published on Chef Tyler Florence's WolfItDown.com. Full piece here.