Now legal, water cremation is coming to Montgomery County

Adrian Gardner’s mother told him that when she died, she wanted an environmentally friendly funeral. Gardner said he wanted to fulfill her wish, but couldn’t.

The former Montgomery County planning board lawyer had done his research, reading reports about newer funerary practices like alkaline hydrolysis — more commonly known as water cremation — and natural organic reduction — what some people call human composting.

But these options weren’t available in Montgomery County, and weren’t legal in the state of Maryland, primarily due to a lack of zoning regulations.

“I was incensed that these options weren’t available in Maryland,” Gardner said. “It didn’t make sense to me.”

What’s sometimes called aquamation is now legal in about half of U.S. states, and last year, with bipartisan support and facing little opposition, state lawmakers made it legal in Maryland too. Soon after a Baltimore funeral home began to offer it.

Gardner hoped the same could happen in Montgomery County, and, going down an internet rabbit hole of green death care options, discovered Lily Buerkle, a Washington, D.C.,-based mortician with a passion for sustainable funerary options. She had long wanted to offer water cremation to clients.

“We would get calls from families asking for it, and I couldn’t give it to them,” Buerkle said. “I’d get stopped in my tracks, thinking I really needed a partner or a lawyer. And I found a partner who’s a lawyer.”

Now, Gardner and Buerkle are launching their own green funeral business, Willow Green Funerals, after working to make water cremation legal statewide and in Montgomery County.

Last week, the County Council passed a bill changing the zoning code to allow licensed funeral homes and crematories to conduct alkaline hydrolysis.

“Just a few years ago, everything we wanted to do was illegal,” Buerkle said. “We’re that much closer to really being able to give this to a family.”

Water + alkaline

Nationally, the cremation rate surpassed the burial rate a decade ago. But the vast majority of cremation is still by fire.

With alkaline hydrolysis, a body is decomposed in a pressurized stainless steel vessel containing 95% water and 5% alkaline solution (typically potassium hydroxide), Buerkle said. According to the Cremation Association of North America, alkaline hydrolysis uses significantly less fuel and has an overall lower carbon footprint than traditional cremation or burial.

The vessel is heated to between 200 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit. A crematoria, by contrast, heats up to about 1,600 degrees. Water cremation, at lower temperatures, generally takes longer, between four to 12 hours.

What remains of the body, Buerkle continued, is a sterile, DNA-free liquid that is released to the local wastewater system. But the process also produces pulverized bone, similar to ashes, that can be given to the deceased’s survivors.

Their business is now operating out of the Bethesda Green co-working space while Buerkle and Gardner tour potential brick-and-mortar sites. While they haven’t settled on a neighborhood, they said they like their options.

Willow Green won’t focus solely on water cremation.

“We’ll be a full-service funeral home. We would transport somebody overseas. We would take you to Arlington National Cemetery. We will go to any place of worship,” Buerkle said

“But we will specialize in offering ecological, earth-friendly options to families,” she added, from water cremation to plain pine boxes to sea grass caskets.

‘People are really excited about this’

District 6 council member Natali Fani-González, the lead sponsor of the legislation, had a personal interest in changing the county law. Her mother, who died in 2020, was an environmentalist who wanted a sustainable funeral that she didn’t get.

“This bill basically gives an option to people who are more environmentalist, like me and my mom,” Fani-González said. “People are really excited about this.”

Fani-González’s bill was enabled by the change in state law.

The Green Death Care Options Act in 2024 established rules for water cremation in Maryland, and also required the state Office of Cemetery Oversight and the state Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors to adopt regulations to govern facilities that offer it.

Buerkle said while alkaline hydrolysis equipment is expensive — costing between $1,300 and $4,000, according to USFuneralsOnline — she said she will price it so it’s comparable to more traditional burial services.

“Death is hard enough. If you can get your person what they want, there is a certain pride that goes along with that — that you did right by your person,” Buerkle said.