Chatham funeral home introduces water-based aquamation to Southwestern Ontario

A new, greener type of cremation coming to Chatham-Kent uses water instead of fire. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell has details.

A Chatham funeral home is introducing a water-based alternative to flame cremation that it says is a first for Southwestern Ontario — and possibly a glimpse into the future of end-of-life care.

Life Transitions Burial and Cremation Service says it is preparing to offer aquamation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis, to clients in the coming weeks. The process uses water, heat and a small amount of alkali to break down human remains, rather than fire.

“We’ve got colleagues up in Peterborough and Newcastle and Kingston… They’ve been going for several years now, but because they’re such a distance geographically, no one around here has really heard of this,” said co-owner James MacNeil. “We’re definitely by far the first in Southwestern Ontario. And even our equipment itself is of a design that it’s the first of its kind in Canada.”

The funeral home has been working for months to install and license the specialized equipment. While the process is legal in Ontario, MacNeil said it involves an “elaborate regulatory field” and required approvals from multiple levels of government.

“We dealt with customs and bringing equipment across the border and permits. And we have pressure permits. And there’s a lot of things that were way over my pay grade, for sure,” he said. “We’ve been learning as we’ve been going and then working hand in hand with local tradespeople.”

Alkaline hydrolysis is not new to Ontario, but it remains uncommon. According to the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), five licensed alkaline hydrolysis facilities currently operate in the province — in Arnprior, Peterborough, Newcastle, Whitby and Kingston.

The first Ontario facility was licensed in Smiths Falls in 2015 but has since closed.

While burial and cremation remain the dominant forms of disposition in Ontario, interest in aquamation is growing.

“It is much newer than other more traditional forms of disposition, but there is continuing interest from the public and prospective business operators,” said BAO spokesperson David Brazeau.

James MacNeil said the environmental benefits of aquamation are clear.

“The process itself replaces flame with water. So instead of a flame breaking down the person’s remains to a basic element, water does that work,” he said. “Some people would say it’s gentler. It certainly causes the need of about one-tenth the energy and it creates essentially zero emissions.”

The process involves about 95 per cent water and five per cent potassium hydroxide, a type of alkali. The result is similar to traditional cremation — a fine powder of the skeletal remains, which can be returned to the family.

“If you did a search on what is the most environmentally safe or prudent way to take care of a deceased human body, it would be alkaline hydrolysis,” MacNeil said.

MacNeil said the method has already drawn interest from families in Chatham-Kent.

“We’re really a few weeks away from serving the public,” he explained. “We’re getting people walking in the door of our office saying ‘sign me up,.’”

Life Transitions managing administrator, Lee-Ann MacNeil said it’s been an adventure as they prepare to offer the service.

“For myself, the idea of fire did not sit well with me. So I became someone who was not going to use cremation. Now, with this, the option of water, it sits better with me. It seems a little more gentle,” she said.

The MacNeils say they felt confident offering the service now because cremation has grown in popularity in Ontario. When James was licensed in 2003, he said the provincial cremation rate was 38 per cent. It’s now closer to 85 per cent.

“Culturally, we’ve been moving away from full burial. And again, it’s a long list of reasons — not just dollars, not just religion,” he said. “So an alternative to burial has been on the rise for decades.”

According to the Cremation Association of North America, 76.7 per cent of all dispositions in Canada in 2024 were cremations. Ontario currently has 76 operating crematoriums.

The MacNeils believe aquamation is the next evolution.

“It made perfect sense to us. And also regionally, in Chatham-Kent, there’s never once been a crematorium,” James said. “So we’ve thought, let’s change that. And we’re actually going to jump over traditional cremation and move right to what we believe is the future — with the water.”

A second funeral provider in Sarnia is also in the process of installing aquamation technology.

The BAO, which licenses and regulates Ontario’s funeral, burial and cremation services, says alkaline hydrolysis remains a legal and regulated form of disposition under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act. The agency is a not-for-profit corporation accountable to the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery.