County Road 12: Eleven86 Real Artesian Water

AUTAUGAVILLE, Ala. (WSFA) - For Marquis Forge, it’s not just about owning a business in a rural Alabama town. He was born and raised here, class valedictorian in 1995. Autaugaville is home.

“This is a place where great people are born, where legends are born, but they never come back,” said Forge, who owns Eleven86 Real Artesian Water.

Forge left as well. But in 2015, he came home for a family event. A friend wanted him to start up a water bottling company, something he knew nothing about, but after months of research and prayer, Marquis knew it was time to come home.

“We’re going to use real artesian water to revitalize a small town.”

In 2018 he took that leap of faith and opened Eleven86 Real Artesian Water.

“We opened up at 22,500 square foot state of the art water bottling facility. Not only do we own the land, but we also own the well, we own the machinery, we even blow our own bottles.”

We had to ask about the name, Eleven86?

“How many chapters are in the Bible? The app came back and said 1,186. I immediately came back and said Eleven86.”

A few days later, Forge counted for himself and said there’s actually 1,189 chapters in the Bible, but he says Eleven86 was such a hit they stuck with it. He calls the water from this artesian, well, liquid gold.

“Artesian water comes from an underground ocean called an aquafer that was made hundreds if not thousands of years ago. 44:34 “This water has been trapped underground, and it has been permeated. It has a complete shell around it so no contaminants can get into it.”

Here’s a guy who decided to come on home. He invested everything he had and then some to create a high-tech artesian water bottling operation in Autaugaville.

He always grins when someone tells him water is just water.

“I’m talking about every time you drink it. It’s almost half gone. Show me another one, a product that you can consume so fast and your body says, ‘yes, what is this?’ Keep drinking it.”

There is something in the water here, a unique mix of obedience, faith, and a desire to give his hometown something to be proud of, in Autaugaville out along County Road 12.

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