From Burial to Water Cremation: How Funerals Are Changing
For thousands of years, the way we care for people after death has been shaped by religion, culture, available land and social tradition. Burial was once the overwhelmingly familiar choice in Britain. Later, cremation offered an alternative that gradually became accepted and eventually commonplace.
Today, another change is beginning to take place.
Growing awareness of environmental impact, changing attitudes towards funerals and advances in technology are encouraging people to consider alternatives to both burial and flame cremation. One of those alternatives is water cremation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis.
Could water cremation represent the next major evolution in how we say goodbye?
From ancient burial to cremation
Human funeral practices stretch back thousands of years. Burial and cremation have both existed in different cultures and at different points in history, often influenced by religious beliefs and local customs.
For long periods, burial was the dominant practice in Britain. The growth of Christianity was an important influence on attitudes towards the treatment of the dead, and cremation remained relatively uncommon for centuries.
That began to change towards the end of the 19th century, when modern cremation started gaining greater acceptance. Its popularity continued to grow, particularly during the 20th century.
What had once seemed unfamiliar gradually became a normal part of British funeral practice.
It is a useful reminder that our funeral traditions are not fixed. They evolve as society changes.
Why did cremation become popular?
There was no single reason for the rise of cremation.
Changing social attitudes played a part, but there were also practical considerations. Growing populations and pressure on cemetery space made permanent burial increasingly difficult in some areas.
Cremation offered families another option without requiring a conventional grave.
Over time, crematoria also developed into places for the funeral ceremony itself. For many families, the crematorium chapel became as familiar a setting for saying goodbye as a church or cemetery.
But the environmental priorities of the 21st century are raising new questions about practices that became established during the previous century.
The environmental question
Traditional cremation relies on high temperatures to cremate the deceased.
That requires energy and produces emissions through combustion. Crematoria have also been studied as potential sources of environmental pollutants, including mercury associated with dental amalgam.
Burial presents a different set of considerations.
Land use, coffin materials, cemetery management and embalming can all contribute to the overall environmental impact of a funeral.
As people increasingly consider the environmental consequences of the choices they make during life, it is understandable that some are beginning to ask:
What about the choices we make at the end of life?
A third choice: water cremation
Water cremation provides an alternative to both conventional burial and flame cremation.
Rather than using fire, the process uses water, heat and alkaline minerals to accelerate the natural process that occurs when a body decomposes.
The deceased is placed within a specially designed water cremation vessel. Under carefully controlled conditions, the process returns the body’s organic material to its basic components.
At the end of the process, the mineral remains of the bones are left behind. These are carefully dried and prepared into a fine powder that can be returned to the family, much like ashes following a traditional cremation.
Families can therefore still choose to keep, scatter or memorialise the remains according to their wishes.
Is water cremation really cremation?
The word cremation is strongly associated with fire, so the term water cremation can initially seem surprising.
But for families, many aspects of the experience can remain familiar.
There can still be a funeral.
There can still be music, readings, flowers and personal tributes.
Friends and relatives can still gather together to remember the person who has died.
And the family can still receive mineral remains afterwards.
What changes is the process taking place after the farewell.
Instead of flame, water is used.
From the crematorium to the Aquatorium®
If cremation led to the development of the modern crematorium, water cremation raises another question:
What should a funeral venue designed around this new process look and feel like?
This is where the idea of an Aquatorium® becomes important.
The original concept of an Aquatorium was not simply a building containing alkaline hydrolysis equipment. It was envisaged as a purpose-designed funeral environment that could meet the practical requirements of water cremation while also serving the emotional and spiritual needs of mourners.
That distinction remains central to the Aquatorium® vision today.
An Aquatorium® should not feel industrial or clinical. It should be a calm, welcoming place where families can gather, remember and say goodbye.
The technology should support the funeral experience rather than define it.
Funeral traditions have always evolved
New funeral practices can initially feel unfamiliar.
Modern cremation itself faced considerable resistance before becoming widely accepted.
Yet attitudes changed.
Funeral customs have continually adapted in response to religious beliefs, cultural expectations, technological developments and the needs of society.
Water cremation can be viewed in the same context: not as a rejection of funeral tradition, but as another development in a much longer history of changing how we care for our dead.
A more sustainable future for funerals
People increasingly consider sustainability when choosing how they travel, heat their homes, buy food and consume energy.
It is reasonable that those considerations should eventually extend to funerals.
For some people, traditional burial will remain the right choice. For others, flame cremation will continue to be preferred.
Water cremation introduces another possibility.
It gives families greater choice while opening a wider conversation about what a modern funeral can be.
The transition from burial to cremation demonstrated that funeral customs can change dramatically over time.
Water cremation could represent the beginning of the next chapter.
Water, Not Flame.
Sources & Further Reading
This article draws on historical records, academic research and published material relating to cremation, alkaline hydrolysis and changing funeral practices.
- Office for National Statistics (ONS) — Burial and cremation statistics, 1855 to 2018. Historical statistics on burial and cremation in England and Wales.
Office for National Statistics – Burial and Cremation Statistics - Mari, M. & Domingo, J.L. (2010) — Research published in Environment International examining environmental emissions associated with crematoria, including mercury and PCDD/F emissions.
ScienceDirect – Environment International - Kaye, G.C., Weber, P.B., Evans, A. & Venezia, R.A. (1998) — Efficacy of Alkaline Hydrolysis as an Alternative Method for Treatment and Disposal of Infectious Animal Waste. Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science, 37(3), 43–46. This is one of the scientific references used in the original Aquatorium material when discussing alkaline hydrolysis.
- BBC News (2017) — Fears over liquefied remains of the dead. Reporting on proposals for alkaline hydrolysis at Sandwell and the regulatory questions surrounding the discharge of the resulting liquid.
- Kalia, A. (2019), The Guardian — A greener way to go: what’s the most eco-friendly way to dispose of a body? Discussion of alkaline hydrolysis and other approaches to more environmentally sustainable funerals.
- Bowler, J.M. (1971) — Pleistocene salinities and climatic change: Evidence from lakes and lunettes in southeastern Australia, in Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia. Cited in the original Aquatorium material in relation to early evidence of cremation at Lake Mungo.