AQUAMATION
A Gentle, Sustainable Option
Aquamation is a process which accelerates the natural transformation that occurs in earth burial, allowing a body to return to its most basic elements in hours rather than years. The end result is very similar to cremated remains or “ashes.” Aquamation relies on a combination of water, heat, and alkali (potassium hydroxide). It is a gentle, environmentally friendly process.
Low-Impact
Aquamation uses 90% less energy than cremation and produces zero emissions.
Safe
Aquamation reduces a body to a safe, sterile liquid that contains salt, sugars, peptides, and amino acids. There is no tissue, no DNA, and there are no diseases remaining. This liquid is safely recycled through municipal wastewater treatment facilities.
Familiar
After aquamation there is bone that gets reduced to a fine powder, just like after cremation. This is what a family receives back. We can do all of the same things with aquamated remains as we can do with ashes.
Personalized
Just like ashes, aquamated remains can placed in an urn, buried in a cemetery, scattered in special place. They can also be used for any number of creative memorialization options: pressing into handheld stones, mixing into tattoo ink, blowing into glass art, placement into jewelry, even launching into orbit.
Gentle
A lot of people are starting to see aquamation as a far gentler alternative to cremation. For many, water just feels more peaceful than fire.
Economic
While aquamation may cost a little more than cremation, it is far more budget friendly than burial, since there are no caskets, vaults, plots of land, and headstones to purchase
Aquamation, an Option that Embraces the Values of the Pacific Northwest.
Wildflower Funeral Concepts is honored to bring this gentle, eco-friendly, respectful, new disposition choice to our community.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the water cremation process work?
A body goes into a vessel with approximately 100 gallons of water, and 5% alkali (potassium and/or sodium hydroxide). The water is heated to around 200 degrees. This warm, water based, alkaline environment “unzips” all of the proteins that make up soft tissue, reducing them to their most basic elements: salts, sugars, peptides, and amino acids. The sterile liquid containing these basic elements is released into a wastewater treatment system. The resulting bone is dried at low temperatures and mechanically reduced to a fine powder similar to cremated remains.
What other names does aquamation go by?
Aquamation’s technical name is alkaline hydrolysis. It can also be referred to as water cremation, flameless cremation, green cremation, bio cremation, and resomation.
I had my knee replaced. What happens to metal in my body during aquamation?
All prosthetic implants (hip replacement, knee replacement, pins, screws, amalgam dental fillings) survive the aquamation process. Any metal left after the aquamation is completed is set aside for recycling.
Is aquation legal?
Because aquamation is a relatively new way of handling remains each state legislature has to pass a law to make it a legal form of disposition. Washington State made it legal in 2020. Aquamation is currently legal in 28 states with more working to pass legislation.