Water cremation is gaining popularity in the United States because the liquefaction of human cadavers provides an environmentally responsible and less expensive alternative to traditional burial.
Also known as aquamation, this technique involves placing the dead body in a vat of water and alkaline chemicals for up to six hours. What remains are bones that are ground into powder and placed in an urn.
An aquamation costs up to $3,000 compared to an average funeral of $8,000, plus about $10,000 more in cemetery fees.
Water cremation is legal in 21 states, but coffin companies and the Catholic Church have tried to stop legalization nationwide. The funeral industry is reportedly worth $20.2 billion.
Americans choose water cremation after her death, in which her corpse is placed in a larger steel vat filled with water and alkali
After about six hours, everything is liquefied down to the bones. The bones are then ground into powder (pictured)
Aquamation is legal in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont , Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Arizona, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas are in the process of legalizing Aquamation.
The process was developed in 1888 by a farmer to break up animal carcasses into fertilizer and was later adopted by laboratories for the disposal of contaminated animal carcasses.
Minnesota was the first US state to legalize the procedure on human bodies in 2003, but it wasn’t used in the funeral industry until 2011.
The corpse is sealed in a long stainless steel chamber filled 95 percent with water and five percent alkali, a chemical that dissolves in water, combines with acids to form salts, and makes acids less acidic.
In low-temperature alkaline hydrolysis, the solution reaches a temperature just below the boiling point, the process is carried out at atmospheric pressure, and the body is reduced for 14-16 hours.
In a high-temperature version of the process, where the mixture reaches a temperature of over 300 degrees Fahrenheit and creates more pressure, the body is reduced in four to six hours.
An aquamation costs up to $3,000 compared to an average funeral of $8,000, plus about $10,000 more in cemetery fees
Water cremation is legal in 21 states, but coffin companies and the Catholic Church have tried to stop legalization nationwide
The solution is heated to 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and gently circulated throughout the process.
During the operation, fats are reduced to salts, proteins to amino acids, and small peptides and carbohydrates to sugars.
The process breaks down all organic materials into their most basic building blocks, which are so small that no traces of proteins or nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) remain.
The organic matter is dissolved in the water, which is 96 percent water and four percent by weight amino acids, sugars and salts.
The sterile process water is released for reuse and the tank performs a fresh water rinse for the equipment and residue.
There is also a difference between the remains of flame cremation and water cremation
The corpse is sealed in a long stainless steel chamber filled 95 percent with water and five percent alkali, a chemical that dissolves in water, combines with acids to form salts, and makes acids less acidic
When the operator opens the door, only the inorganic bone minerals remain.
These minerals are then ground into powder and returned to the family in an urn.
And the material of water cremation is much thinner than what is left of cremation.
READ MORE: My husband had a water cremation
When Minnesota fisherman Robert J. Klink passed away in 2017, his widow opted for what was then an unconventional burial for her deceased.
The effluent from the process is discharged into the sewage system or used to fertilize plants.
Bio-Response Solutions manufactured all 60 machines used in the process, and funeral directors in 15 states offer this option.
The Vatican has addressed cremation in general but has not delved into the specific moral implications of alkaline hydrolysis, likely because the process is relatively new in humans.
However, other local churches have addressed this alkaline hydrolysis when confronted with the matter.
In 2011, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington and then-chair of the Doctrinal Committee of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference (USCCB), stated that it was “unnecessarily disrespectful of the human body.”
This is because Catholics believe that the deceased should be buried in the same way that Jesus Christ was laid in a tomb after his death.
The Church has permitted flame cremation, but opposes water cremation as it converts human remains, which are flushed down the sewer.
According to the Berkeley Planning Journal: “Each year in the United States, chemicals and materials are buried with bodies in a conventional burial, including approximately 30 million plank feet of hardwood, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 104,272 tons of steel, and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete .’
Flame burns in America pump out about 360,000 tons of carbon annually, while water burns emit none.
Flame cremation is growing in popularity in the United States and is expected to account for 60 percent of burial methods this year.
According to the Cremation Research Council, the average cost of a direct cremation in the US is $1,100.