Alkaline Water Industry Consumer Insight - Kangen1 Info · in the printable product brochure, ......

Alkaline Water Industry Consumer InsightSpecial Report by Gerald L. Kostecka

Velaqua© by Velara, Inc.

Report Topic: Velaqua© Portable Water Enrichment System

The Velaqua© water enrichment system, which appears to be nothing more than a batch water filter, which releases alkaline rich minerals into the source water, is one of the latest products to jump onto the alkaline water bandwagon. While the “official” company website does not make a direct comparison of Velaqua water to the water produced by a water ionizer, it does allude to a comparison by showing meter readings for alkalinity and negative oxidation reduction potential. Unfortunately, none of the findings regarding the properties of the water produced by the Velaqua filter appearing on the website were able to be verified. In fact, some of the information that appears on the website was verified to be false.

Including the meter readings is obviously an attempt to draw a comparison between the Velaqua filter and a water ionizer, or similar product, but it is important to recognize a few of the very clear differences. The filter is going to produce one grade of water…that’s it! While a high quality water ionizer can produce several different grades of alkaline drinking water, clean water for use with medications and baby formula, beauty water for external use on the skin, 11.5 pH water for toxic free cleaning and degreasing and 2.5 pH water for toxic free sterilization. Just for the record, you really can’t compare the two, as they ARE NOT the same thing!

While researching Velara and their products, investigators discovered three main places on the Internet to locate information: the company website, digital online marketing / advertising materials and Velara independent distributor websites. Information was also obtained through Internet search engines and well as website searches and telephone interviews.

Our research started with a major discrepancy, which was a huge red flag for investigators. This discrepancy has to do with the claim that the Velaqua has WQA, Water Quality Association, Gold Seal Certification, as well as NSF Certification and Velara being a WQA“Certified Water Specialist”. On November 17, 2013 investigators conducted a verification search for these certifications using the WQA website, which offers a “Certified Products”search engine and is searchable by manufacturer, country and brand. This search found no listings, using either the company or product name.

On November 18, 2013 investigators continued their search by contacting the WQA office by telephone to inquire about these claims. An authorized representative of the WQA confirmed that Velara did not have any Gold Seal Certifications, NSF Certifications, nor were they WQACertified Water Specialist. This surprised investigators since this information appeared not only in the printable product brochure, located on the Velara company website, but also in the company business opportunity webinar slides and on at least 10 different independent distributor websites. This discrepancy should raise red flags with consumers.



After getting the results of the WQA portion of this investigation investigators went back to the company website to conduct further research. The contents of the website were closely scrutinized and the following were some of the findings.

Throughout the website, specifically in the Velaqua product information, the word “chemical” is used numerous times. The site says, “filtration process using gravity instead of electricity, chemicals or other artificial methods.”

But if you look into the contents of the filter, which is doing the “mineralizing”, you will discover that the main “natural” way that they make their water is by adding trace minerals, like calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium. While the definition of “chemical” could be subjective, according to Medical-Dictionary.com, calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium are all defined as: “a chemical element”.

So, right off the bat, there is some contradictory information that appears on their website. It seems that something is only a “chemical” if it benefits them to say it is a chemical. An example of this is when they say, “Normal tap water is considered to be drinkable, until one realizes the chemicals that have been added to it.” The word “chemical” is used here because it sounds negative and it benefits them to call it that. To the contrary, when they mention the “essential rare earth minerals”, which are infused into the water from their filter, all of a sudden these minerals, which are also classified and known as “chemicals”, stop being chemicals and become something more mysterious and helpful.

This is not to say that these minerals are not important and beneficial. It is to show how word choice and usage can effect perception. This is a classic example of manipulating the definition of a word or phrase in order to create the most influential effect.

There is also a lot of exaggerated word use throughout the website. The site explains, “Velaqua is our revolutionary portable water enrichment system that duplicates nature’s water purification and filtration process…” Calling their product revolutionary may be a stretch, we will address that on the next page, but alluding to the fact that this rather basic gravity fed filtration product “duplicate’s nature’s water purification and filtration process”, that may be going too far. Then they say that their product is “Backed by thousands of scientific studies, our products have tremendous global appeal, are affordable and most importantly, they are exclusive to Velara.” My question would be, is the actual Velaqua product backed by 1000’s of scientific studies, or are they referencing the general studies done on alkaline water? And are they sure that this type of mineralizing water filter is “exclusive to Velara”?. You will soon find out.



Revolutionary Products? The Velara website proudly states, “Velaqua is our revolutionary portable water enrichment system…” Investigators decided to find out just how “revolutionary”this product actually was, so they did some in-depth research. Before we discuss the results, let’s consider what “revolutionary” means as it pertains to a consumer product. Dictionary.com, the online dictionary, defines revolutionary as “radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc.: a revolutionary discovery.”

Based on this definition investigators assumed they would find few products like the Velaquafilter. However, contrary to this assumption, they actually found quite a few very similar products. Pictured below, to the top left, is the Velaqua water system. The rest are other types / brands of mineralizing water filters that essentially do the same thing as the Velaqua product.

There were many more examples of mineralizing / alkalizing water filters, both dispenser style, like the Velaqua, as well as pitcher style. Based on the large number of similar products and how easy it was to locate so many examples, it is probably fair to say that this particular type of product is not at all uncommon, that this type of mineralizing filter is not “exclusive to Velara”, as they promote it being, and that this type of product is definitely not revolutionary.



There was one particular brand of mineralizing water filter that captured the interest of investigators, it is made by a company called Zen Water Systems. Zen Water Systems offered a 4 gallon batch style water filter called Vitality, very similar in its components to the Velaraproduct. Below is the info graphic about the product from the Zen Water Systems

The thing that made this particular brand so interesting was not the actual filter, although investigators did find it interesting that the Vitality 4 gallon water filter by Zen Water Systems was listed on their website for only $97.95, it was something more unexpected. It was the fact that the addresses listed for Zen Water Systems and Velara were exactly the same. It is possible that these two companies are completely unrelated, but, common sense would suggest that this may not be the case. Is it possible that some minor cosmetic changes were made to a product, that product was rebranded with a new name and the retail selling price was increased 3 times in order to insert the product into a network marketing sales program? This question is best answered by consumers considering the product and potential independent distributors considering the Velara business. But, just out of curiosity, what do you think?



The Velaqua product is promoted as being cost effective. In fact, the Velara website specifically says that their system was created to make water “without spending a small fortune”. However, the website does not mention the actual cost of ownership, which may be substantially more than consumers may think. We conducted a basic cost of ownership (COO) analysis of the Velaqua water filter and the SD-501, the #1 selling Continuous Ionized Electrolysis Water Generator offered by ionized alkaline water industry leader, Enagic, USA. Since purchase price and cost of ownership are two very different things, we asked the question “How long will a person need to keep drinking water?” Obviously the answer is FOREVER, but we needed to establish a timeframe for the sake of this example, so we choose 20 years. If routine maintenance is performed, an ionizer can last 20 years. Unfortunately, since the Velaqua product is so new, it is only speculative that it could or would last for 20 years, but for this example we will give the product the benefit of the doubt.

The 20 year Enagic® information is based on the SD-501, with a retail price of $3980.00. It also includes the cost of a high-grade filter, replaced annually; 2 cleaning cartridges, used annually; 5 deep cleaning services, once every 3 years, performed by Enagic® Technicians and the average cost of tap water, as indicated by the U.S. EPA, at the rate of $.002 per gallon.

The 20 year Velara information is based on the Velaqua, with a retail price of $299.00. It also includes the cost of a filter, replaced twice annually, as per the recommendation of Velara, and the average cost of tap water, as indicated by the U.S. EPA, at the rate of $.002 per gallon.

20 YEAR COST ANALYSIS

It is obvious that the retail price of the Velaqua is substantially less than the SD-501, however, with a $358.00 annual cost, just for replacement filters, the Velaqua cost of ownership adds up very quickly. In fact, the cost analysis clearly shows that the Velaqua, making only one grade of mineralized water, would actually cost more than the SD-501 continuous ionized electrolysis water generator by Enagic®, which makes 5 different types of water, during the same 20 years.

20 Year COO $7029.2020 Year COO $7488.20

20 Year Expenses $3049.2020 Year Expenses $7189.20

Purchase Price $3980.00Purchase Price $ 299.00

SD-501Velaqua

NOTE: Figures were calculated based on a family of four, using a recommended daily water consumption formula of ½ the body weight of each individual in ounces of water. Father – 190 lbs, Mother – 160 lbs, 13 year old son – 100 lbs, 10 year old daughter – 75 lbs. Weights based on National Center for Health Statistics for average weights of individuals living in the United States. This family should consume 262.5 ounces, or 2.05 gallons, of water each day. The calculations above have been figured using 2 gallons of daily consumption.



The Velara network marketing business opportunity seems to be of great importance to the company and the independent distributors, as there is more information and promotion regarding the “unlimited earnings potential” than the actual products. Most industry professionals agree that the business opportunity being promoted more heavily than the product being sold is a major red flag and people should proceed with caution. This seems to be exactly what Velara is doing. In fact, the business opportunity portion of the Velara webinar slides account for half of all the information presented, even though there are two different products discussed. Prospective independent distributors considering the Velara network marketing business may want to really research things before committing to the program. One of the “ways to Earn with Velara” is the “Dual Team Cycle Bonus”. After careful review, it was discovered that this “bonus” is built on a binary matrix. Although this type of pay plan has been used many times in network marketing, it has also been the undoing for many network marketing companies.

The slides presentation that is being used to promote the Velara products and business through online webinars also raised some red flags. The slides reflect the claim that the Velara product has WQA Certification and NSF/ANSI Certification, even though it was confirmed with the Water Quality Association that the product has neither. They also confirmed that a company making such claims, without actually having these certifications, is grossly misrepresenting their product.

The next red flag was the way the compensation plan was presented. The Velara business is supposed to be built from sales of retail products to consumers, yet the plan states that there is only one way to earn from retail sales, which is to purchase products wholesale, stock an inventory and then sell retail. The compensation plan goes on to explain 7 other ways to earn that seem to based on recruiting other distributors and getting them to purchase wholesale product, known in the industry as “loading”, and not by making retail sales. Distributors purchase a “package” ranging in price from $99 - $999. The plan seems to encourage the creation of distributors over retail customers. Having the bulk of the income potential generated from the recruiting of distributors is another red flag.

Velara seems to be more focused on selling their opportunity than selling their retail products. While this may be able to create the appearance of a company going and succeeding, it is not sustainable. Eventually someone has to actually start selling products to consumers in order to make retail profits. If all that is happening is one distributor trying to create another, what they will end up with are a bunch of “distributors” that are not actually distributing anything. Using a similar model is what has been the undoing of other network marketing companies.



The last aspect of the slides from the Velara webinar that created an issue for investigators is actually rather odd. In most cases, when a company puts together a slide presentation to represent their company, products and business, they try very hard for the information to be original. Something they could call their own. As the lead investigator, Gerald Kostecka, was reviewing the slides he was shocked at what he found. After verifying a few things he discovered that two of the images used in the Velara slides were actually created by him. Below are the pages as they appeared in the Velara presentation. Below each slide image is an enlarged version of the picture in question. Below those images are the files where the images originally appeared, created by Gerald Kostecka in 2008 and 2009, and being used as part of the Velara presentation without his knowledge or permission.

Original Files



Our final look at the Velara product will concentrate on specific aspects that would pertain to use of the product by the end user. Even if the product were given the benefit of the doubt and actually did “duplicate nature’s water purification and filtration process”, consumers may not be aware of some of the realities of its use.

The Assembly & Maintenance Guide of the Velaqua states, “The normal flow rate of the Ceramic Filter is approximately one hour per gallon. When the Ceramic Filter is initially used, it may take a little longer to drain to the bottom tank, but it should not take more than 3 to 4 hours.” Using this information as a guide, let’s take a look at the time and effort it would take to make the daily drinking water for a average family of four, using a recommended daily water consumption formula of ½ the body weight of each individual in ounces of water. Father – 190 lbs, Mother – 160 lbs, 13 year old son – 100 lbs, 10 year old daughter – 75 lbs. Weights based on National Center for Health Statistics for average weights of individuals living in the United States. This family should consume a minimum of 262.5 ounces, or 2.05 gallons, of water each day. For this example we will use 2 gallons per day.

As you can see above, the amount of time needed to actually produce the necessary amount of water to reach the recommended daily consumption is huge. In fact, based on the information from the product guide, it would take anywhere from 2.33 to 9.33 COMPLETE 24 hour days to make one month worth of water. This does not include the fact that the top tank only holds 1.5 gallons of water and the bottom tank only holds 2.5 gallons. So, the top tank would need to be filled, then allowed to filter, then the top tank would need to be filled again. Of that water only one more gallon would actually filter. The rest would stay in the top tank until water was drained from the bottom tank. The top tank would still need to have water added to it in order to make the 4 gallon capacity. Seems like a lot of effort for a consumer to do each and every day!

About the Lead Investigator & Author of this Report:

Gerald Kostecka has been an Independent Alkaline Water Distributor since the beginning of 2007 and is a recognized authority and expert on Alkaline Water and the Alkaline Water Industry. He is the author of two books about the alkaline water industry and has written numerous articles about alkaline water and the growing alkaline water business. He is a sought after industry speaker and trainer and has been a keynote speaker at some of the largest alkaline industry conventions in North America.

56 – 224 HoursPer Month

14 – 56 HoursPer Week

2 – 8 HoursPer Day

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Alkaline Water Industry Consumer Insight - Kangen1 Info · in the printable product brochure, ......

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