What Is Water Cremation?

Now we have noticed that there have been some questions about water cremation, what it is, and if water cremation is the choice that someone makes to have their body cremated will there still be ashes? It is a difficult decision for many to decide what is going to be the best way to take care of your body or that of a loved once after they have passed.  Water cremation, also scientifically known as alkaline hydrolysis, is a method of disposing a human body using a combination of lye and heat. It is a much more green method compared to other methods that are more common. 

Traditional Ways Of Burial

• Embalming:
  The most common method to care for a body after death is still embalming and burial inside of a casket by a mortician at a funeral home. It is what many of us grew up with expecting when grandma or grandpa died as children, and probably felt rather weird looking at them inside of a coffin painted up with make-up and looking more plastic than human.  
• Cremation:
  The 2nd most common method is cremation.  This is the process of being placed inside of a fire chamber to have the remains burned completely to ash, and the bones are ground into powder. Once complete they are placed into a some type of container which us usually an urn.  
• Natural Burial:
  Another method that has started to gain more popularity is natural burial which is when a person is neither embalmed or cremated, but rather is buried in a grave 3 feet or so deep covered by a shroud or bio-degradable casket made of wicker wood or even cardboard.  Embalming fluid isn't used and the body begins decomposition the natural way.  Some people even have chosen to have their bodies buried in a family grave on their own property. 

A New Way To Treat A Body After Death

Below is a video from Kari Northey, a funeral director, interviewing Ryan Cattoni of AquaGreen Dispositions about water cremation and how he provides this new method to families at his funeral home in Illinois. 

Water cremation has been called by a few different names.  These include bio-cremation, resomation, and flameless cremation. They all are different names for Alkaline hydrolysis. The basics are fairly simple 

Currently there are 11 states within the US, and 3 provinces in Canada that have approved the process for human remains.  There are potentially more states looking to approve the process in the future. 

Unfortunately there are many people who are unaware of this new way of cremation, and how it not only uses less energy, but also has less of a negative impact on the environment. 

Less Environmental Impact

As has been cited in many articles such as this one, a water cremation reduces a lot of the negative impacts traditional burial and traditional cremation has on the world.

Going the traditional burial route of burial there is first the embalming fluid which contains formaldehyde and other harmful chemicals which do preserve to body, but also stay in with the body after it has been buried in the ground.  Most all cemeteries require an embalmed body be buried inside of a cement or metal vault. This vault not only prevents the ground from settling but it also is needed to keep the toxic chemicals inside and not seep into the water supplies of our cities and towns.  Each year there is over 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid buried in the earth. That is more than an Olympic sized swimming pool! 

Along with the cancer causing chemicals that are used there is also the 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 180,544,000 pounds of steal and 5,400,000 pounds of copper and bronze! All of these resources are used each year. If we moved towards more greener methods to care for our bodies after we die, we'd have less contaminated water supplies, and less use of other natural resources. 

Traditional cremation chambers use natural gas as the fuel source to burn bodies, which is of course less expensive than other methods, but it isn't just the fuel source but also the smoke emissions that are expelled can contain mercury, and other harmful metals flying up into the atmosphere.  The amount of time it takes as well to burn the body means more use of natural gas. Cremation does cause less impact on the world overall, but still is concerning. 

Use of Cremation Urn Jewelry

The last thing we want to address is the use of cremation urn jewelry to still honor your loved one if they have chosen water cremation.  As you learned in the video when water cremation is used, most every part of the body dissolves, but the bone still remains.  These bone fragments are ground up into a powder using a cremulator and given to the family.  These remains can still be used with cremation urn jewelry so that you can have a part of your lost loved one with you.  

There are also pet water cremation solutions available in many of the states that have legalized water cremation.  So your lost cat, dog, or other pet can also be placed in a pet cremation urn necklace, keychain, ring or earrings.  

We hope that this has been helpful for those that may be looking for a greener solution when their loved ones pass on, or may have wanted to see what water cremation is all about.  It is something that we suggest for those that are interested in cremation rather than a traditional treatment method.

And if you are interested in cremation urn jewelry we hope that you will consider Cremation Solutions. We all wish you love and prayers in your time of need and thank you for visiting our website and learning more about how to remember the ones that we love.