New Costa Mesa company’s goal is pure — water, that is

When hit with the realization that many restaurant customers were seeking tasty non-alcoholic beverages, Evan Krisher made a connection to the draft beer systems he had been designing for five years.

It was clear to the Newport Beach resident that a drink is only as good as the water it’s made from and that to create great beverages he would need a sophisticated water filtering system.

“Something clicked in my head,” Krisher said. “A lot of people need beer, but everyone needs water. If I don’t have a really good water, then I won’t have a really good product.”

Krisher and friend Thos Carson, owner of the Wild Taco and Bear Flag restaurants, partnered this summer to open Citizen Water Co. at 333 E. 17th St. in Costa Mesa.

“Evan is the scientific side and I’m more the food side,” Carson said.

Their goal was to use the purest water to create a better-tasting product with health benefits.

Among the products sold in the Citizen Water Co. shop are cold brew coffee and kombucha, a lightly effervescent, fermented, sweetened tea drink with a culture of bacteria and yeast added. The drink has been around for centuries and is served in a variety of flavors including strawberry-pineapple, passion fruit and mango.

Citizen also sells water and refillable containers along with filtration systems.

According to Krisher and Carson, Citizen’s water is free of contaminates and chemicals. Once its impurities are removed, the water is remineralized with alkaline and silica and infused with magnesium, they said.

“Magnesium can only remove metals from the body; the silica can reduce metals in the brain,” according to manager Seamus Perry. “With the magnesium and silica, we’re able to reduce metals overall, and we’re the only people to be using silica.”

Citizen’s bottled water ranges from a 32-ounce glass signature bottle to 5-gallon glass and BPA-free plastic containers.

Krisher, who has a full metal fabrication shop, designs and builds water filtration systems himself.

“Every system I make is unique for the customer receiving it. For example, if there’s only 28 inches of space, we make it fit,” he said.

The custom-made systems have been installed in gyms, homes and Pilates, yoga and spin studios, he added.

“We have gotten huge support from the community as a result of organic social media and local online … reporting,” Krisher said.

According to data from Beverage Marketing Corp., bottled water surpassed carbonated soft drinks to become the largest beverage category by volume in the United States in 2016.

Not everyone is convinced, however. Kevin Hardy, executive director of the National Water Research Institute, said that “with better systems to analyze water today, I am comfortable with the entire palette of water resource management and technology. Therefore, I drink tap water.”

SUSAN HOFFMAN is a contributor to Times Community News.