It’s been 6 years since the water crisis in Flint, Michigan plagued local people with skin rashes, hair loss, and pneumonia. The city made national headlines back in 2014 when city officials made the decision to switch the drinking water supply from Detroit Water Sewerage Department to the Flint River in an effort to cut cost. Although during the pandemic we did not have to worry about the spread of mass contamination of water in most cities, we did however have to deal with the frenzy surrounding citizens looking to obtain clean water supply in fear of possible shortage, much like the Flint crisis that is still unresolved until this day. Currently the city of Detroit has inspected over 25,000 service lines and has completed the replacement of 85 percent of the city’s pure lead pipes.
Although the fight for safe drinking water is far from over in Detroit and other urban cities like Pittsburgh, Newark, Milwaukee, and Baltimore; companies like Solid Water, a black-owned natural spring water company, are on a mission to provide quality water to people in black and brown communities across the country. The concept came about when founder, Kenny James had a conversation with his now company manager, Jack West , at the start of the pandemic about how there was no water accessible in stores due to panic and frenzy surrounding the uncertainty of COVID-19. “We came up with the concept of providing hydration to the people in our communities. This was new for us so there were some beginning challenges. It took months of research and water tasting from several water sources to find a quality taste we were satisfied with.”
The official launch date was May 13, 2020 and from there the company has expanded vastly. They went from selling one size to now offering four sizes of their BPA free bottles in a short span of just under 6 months. Their selection includes a 12oz sample size for events, 16oz priced at $1.00, 23oz bullet bottle at $1.50, and 1lt bottle at $2.25. The product is currently offered in store at two separate businesses which include Universal Stop and 7-Eleven both in Pasadena, CA. The road to their product being placed in store happened rapidly. The partnerships were acquired through both strong personal relationships and business strategy. “We’re quickly growing as we now offer 4 sizes in addition to our 16oz and 23 oz. bottles, we offer 12oz and 1 liter bottles. We’ve acquired 2 additional partnerships totaling 4 store locations.” Kenny stated that their focus is to continue to gain partnerships in black and brown communities while looking to expand in other regions.
Balanced at a low alkaline level of 7.8, Solid Water doesn’t use chemicals in their 5- step filtration process. The company is unique in the sense that with every bottle of water sold it provides water to someone in need. “We make it a priority to invest into our community with donating to local groups, sponsorships, and free water day events.”
Solid Water is sourced from Mt. Palomar in San Diego, Ca. The company is classified as a spring water; water must rise to the surface on its own to be classified in that category. Kenny spoke on how they went about selecting Mt. Palomar as the right source for their brand. He stated it was selected by water tasting. No chemicals being added was of utmost importance to the brand. “Natural Spring Water is what we aim to provide, we wanted a solid hydration source. We collect spring water at the source, through tubing, free of human contact. Our spring water is processed by a 5 step filtration process: micro filtration, activated carbon filtration, 3 stage microfiltration of ultra filtration, UV light treatment and ozonation. Our product is packaged in BPA-free plastic bullet bottles.”
When asked about what the Solid Water team consisted of and what their duties entail, Kenny stated that it was a small team and no day is ever the same. “It is a collected effort of branding, marketing, generated sales, accounting, providing deliveries and partnering with businesses in our community to generate revenue throughout our economic system. We’re a family built on substance, embraced through struggle, inspired by our past and aiming to be leaders by example.”
Solid Water has plans of teaming up locally with other community leaders to spread word about the company and give back to communities in need. They’re currently developing a list of leaders that they would like to work with in multiple communities throughout California.
