Hawai'i's fast-growing deepseawater bottling industry is about to get even bigger.

Currently, two companies bottle the pricey, desalinated water at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai'i Authority in Keahole, on the Big Island. Three other businesses also have received permission from NELHA to bottle the water, bringing the total number of operations to five.

Now two more unidentified companies have applied for access to NELHA's pipeline, which descends more than 2,000 feet into the waters off Kailua, Kona.

Desalinated seawater from deep below the ocean's surface has become a hit product in Japan, where it is marketed as a pure and nutrient-rich alternative to tap and spring water. It has also become one of the state's fastest-growing exports with nearly $3.2 million in exports this year through July, according to the Foreign Trade Zone division of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. That's up 129 percent from a year ago.

Interest in bottling Hawai'i deep-seawater is only growing, said Ron Baird, chief executive officer of NELHA.

"I think it's only just begun," he said.

It could be a few months before NELHA decides whether to allow the two additional companies to set up bottling operations at NELHA.

However, "They appear to be well financed," Baird said. "I think they would be capable of doing what they say they're going to do."

Hawai'i's deep-seawater industry, which sprang up about two years ago, already is creating more than 100 jobs, drawing millions of dollars in capital investments and hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from a previously untapped natural resource. It is the state's 20th-most-valuable export commodity.

Among the companies that already are bottling at NELHA is Deep SeaWater International Inc. The 7,500-square-foot plant opened this summer with plans to employ 25 people and produce 40,000 bottles of water per shift. The company also plans to put up a much larger 80,000-square-foot plant next year.

Koyo USA Corp. is producing 300,000 bottles of water a day for export. The three other energy lab tenants that are planning bottling facilities are Hawaii Deep Marine Inc., Enzamin USA Inc. and Savers Holdings Ltd.

Away from NELHA, Deep Sea Health LLC plans to pump deep-seawater into a boat off O'ahu. The water would then be sold to bottlers in Kapolei. The company hopes to begin operations in two to three months, said Deep Sea Health spokesman Eddie Sherman.

"We have the ship, we have the finances, now we're just tying up the pieces," he said.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.