Understanding what happens during the water cremation process
One of the first questions people ask when they hear about water cremation is understandably very simple:
What actually happens to the body?
Water cremation — also known as alkaline hydrolysis — uses water rather than flame to care for the body after death.
Instead of exposing the body to the extremely high temperatures used in traditional cremation, water cremation uses a carefully controlled combination of water, temperature and alkaline minerals.
The process gently accelerates the natural changes that would otherwise take place over a much longer period following burial.
Understanding what happens at each stage can make an unfamiliar process much easier to understand.
Before water cremation begins
The care given to someone before water cremation is similar in many respects to the care provided before traditional cremation.
The deceased is identified and cared for according to strict procedures designed to maintain dignity, security and traceability throughout the process.
Once the necessary preparations have been completed, the person is carefully placed inside a specially designed water cremation vessel.
The vessel is then closed and the water cremation process begins.
What happens inside the vessel?
The vessel contains water together with a carefully measured alkaline solution.
The combination of:
- Water
- Alkaline minerals
- Controlled temperature
- Pressure, depending upon the technology used
- Gentle circulation
creates the conditions required for alkaline hydrolysis to take place.
There is no flame and no combustion of the body.
Instead, the process accelerates the chemical reactions involved in natural decomposition.
What is alkaline hydrolysis?
The scientific name for water cremation is alkaline hydrolysis.
Hydrolysis describes a chemical reaction involving water.
During water cremation, the alkaline solution and water gently break down the body’s organic materials into their basic components.
These are substances naturally associated with the body’s biological composition.
The process essentially accelerates changes that would otherwise occur naturally after burial, but does so within a carefully managed and controlled environment.
What happens to the soft tissues?
During water cremation, the body’s soft tissues are gradually broken down by the alkaline hydrolysis process.
Proteins, fats and other organic materials are reduced to simpler compounds within the water.
By the end of the process, the soft tissue has been returned to its basic organic components.
This is fundamentally different from traditional cremation.
With flame cremation, organic material is broken down through intense heat and combustion.
With water cremation, it is broken down through water and alkaline hydrolysis.
This difference lies at the heart of the phrase we use at Aquatorium®:
Water, Not Flame.
What happens to the bones?
The mineral structure of the bones remains after water cremation.
When the process has finished, these mineral remains are carefully removed from the vessel.
They are then thoroughly rinsed and dried.
Once dry, the remaining bone minerals are processed into a fine powder.
These are the remains that are returned to the family.
They are commonly referred to as ashes, even though technically they have not been produced by burning.
Are the ashes different from traditional cremation ashes?
Yes, there are some differences.
Traditional cremation leaves calcified bone fragments following exposure to very high temperatures. These are subsequently processed to create the familiar cremated remains returned to families.
Water cremation also leaves the mineral component of the bones, which is dried and processed before being returned to the family.
Water cremation remains are often lighter in colour and can have a finer appearance than remains produced through flame cremation.
For the family, however, their purpose is much the same.
The ashes can be:
- Kept in an urn.
- Scattered somewhere meaningful.
- Buried in a cemetery or memorial garden.
- Incorporated into a memorial.
- Divided between family members if desired.
Families therefore retain the same opportunity to create a meaningful memorial following water cremation.
What happens to medical implants?
Certain medical implants and artificial materials do not break down during water cremation.
Where appropriate, these can be carefully separated from the mineral remains following the process.
The way particular medical devices are handled will depend upon their type and the relevant operational and regulatory requirements.
One potential advantage of the process is that metals are not subjected to the intense temperatures associated with flame cremation.
What happens to dental fillings?
This is another important difference between flame and water cremation.
Traditional cremation involves very high temperatures. Where someone has dental amalgam fillings containing mercury, crematoria require appropriate procedures and emissions controls to minimise environmental releases.
Water cremation does not burn the body.
Because there is no combustion, the process does not produce the same type of airborne emissions associated with flame cremation.
This distinction is one of the reasons water cremation has attracted interest as an alternative approach to caring for the dead.
What happens to the water?
Understandably, this is another of the most common questions about water cremation.
The liquid remaining after alkaline hydrolysis contains water together with the dissolved organic components produced during the process.
It does not contain the mineral bone remains returned to the family.
The liquid is handled according to the environmental, wastewater and operational requirements applying to the facility.
This aspect of water cremation can initially sound unfamiliar, but wastewater treatment systems already manage organic materials from many aspects of everyday life.
As water cremation develops in Britain, clear information about this part of the process will be particularly important in helping families understand exactly what happens.
Is the process respectful?
For many people, this is ultimately more important than understanding the chemistry.
Water cremation may use modern technology, but the principles surrounding the care of the deceased remain traditional:
dignity, identification, respect and careful handling.
The deceased remains within a controlled system throughout the process.
The mineral remains are subsequently recovered, prepared and returned to the family with the same respect expected following a traditional cremation.
The technology is different.
The responsibility to care for someone with dignity is not.
Is water cremation the same as dissolving a body?
No.
Descriptions such as “dissolving the body” dramatically oversimplify what is taking place and can create an unnecessarily disturbing impression of the process.
Water cremation is a controlled form of alkaline hydrolysis.
The process breaks down organic tissue into simpler biological components while leaving the mineral structure of the bones.
Those bone minerals are subsequently prepared and returned to the family.
It is therefore more accurate to think of water cremation as accelerating a natural process using water rather than destroying the body through combustion.
How is this different from burial?
There is an interesting connection between burial and water cremation.
Following burial, natural biological and chemical processes gradually return the body’s organic materials to the environment.
This happens over a long period of time and depends upon soil, moisture, temperature and other environmental conditions.
Water cremation accelerates aspects of this natural process within a controlled environment.
Traditional cremation takes a different route, using intense heat and combustion.
In very simple terms:
Burial uses nature and time.
Traditional cremation uses flame and heat.
Water cremation uses water and alkaline hydrolysis.
All three ultimately return the body’s organic components to the natural environment, but they achieve this in very different ways.
Why understanding the process matters
Death and funerals are subjects that people understandably approach with sensitivity.
New funeral technologies can sometimes sound uncomfortable simply because they are unfamiliar.
Traditional flame cremation faced similar concerns when it was introduced into Britain. Over time, greater understanding helped it become an accepted funeral choice.
Water cremation is now beginning a similar conversation.
Clear information about what happens to the body allows people to consider the process based on facts rather than assumptions.
For some families, burial will remain the right choice.
For others, traditional cremation will continue to feel familiar and appropriate.
But some people may prefer a process that uses water rather than flame.
What matters is that families understand the choices available to them.
Water, Not Flame
Water cremation represents a fundamentally different approach to caring for someone after death.
There is no burning of the body.
Instead, water, alkaline minerals and carefully controlled conditions accelerate a process based upon natural decomposition.
The soft tissues return to their basic organic components.
The mineral bones remain.
Those minerals are carefully prepared and returned to the family as ashes.
And throughout the process, the same fundamental principle applies:
the person entrusted into our care should always be treated with dignity and respect.
At Aquatorium®, we believe families should be able to understand exactly what happens before deciding whether water cremation is right for them.
Because greater choice should also mean greater understanding.
Water, Not Flame.
Links
Water cremation — also known as alkaline hydrolysis — uses water rather than flame to care for the body after death.
If you would like to understand each stage in more detail, see our guide to how water cremation works
These are the remains that are returned to the family. You can learn more about what happens to the ashes after water cemation, including how they are prepared and the choices families have afterwards.