More than 19 tons of desalinated drinking water was exported from Hawai'i to Japan and other countries in the first three months of this year as the market for deep-sea water from Hawaii continued to blossom.

Figures released by Foreign Trade Zone No. 9 show there was about a 16 percent increase in exports of the water overseas during the first quarter, with more than 38,000 pounds shipped to international locales.

Hawai'i's deep-sea water business sprang up about five years ago and has for the most part enjoyed rapid growth as consumers in Asia seek out the drink, marketed as a natural, pathogen-free product drawn from thousands of feet below the ocean's surface. The Foreign Trade Zone statistics show total export sales of the water rose to $41.7 million last year, while first-quarter revenue totaled $9.69 million.

"I think some people were skeptical that the water companies would last," said Mark Anderson, deputy director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. "I'm happy to see that they've been successful so far."

Anderson said Hawai'i is a factor in that success since similar products drawn from waters off Japan do not have the association with the pristine image of water from the state.

"The water companies have been able to capitalize on that."

For example, Koyo USA Corp. markets its MaHaLo Hawaii Deep Sea Water as being pumped from 3,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, where the water "is safe from surface pollutants caused by industry, farming, chemicals or human waste" while brimming with essential minerals. Koyo is one of a handful of water companies located or planning facilities at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority's ocean and science technology park at Keahole Point on the Big Island.

On O'ahu, two companies have set up shop to draw water from 2,000 feet deep and several miles offshore. Deep Ocean Enterprises is desalinating and selling its Hawaii Deep Blue water in Honolulu, but is about to expand internationally, said Richard Paige, Deep Ocean president. He said the company is about to sign a contract for Asia.

"They're going to be wanting a lot of bottled water from us," said Paige. "We've got some huge opportunities overseas."

He said there is a certain cachet in selling water from Hawai'i and that the company also markets the water as being sound environmentally because it isn't depleting water tables.

The company started production late last year and since its sales have only been in Hawai'i, the numbers don't show up in the export data. The Foreign Trade Zone numbers aren't representative of total industry revenue because sales here and on the Mainland aren't counted as exports.