Joseph H. Brown III comes alive when discussing the trends and innovations of caring for the dead.

As a fourth-generation mortician, he understands the importance of tradition, but also adopting the newest processes.

Soon his Joseph H. Brown Jr. Funeral Home in West Baltimore will begin offering water cremations, a way of preparing the dead using a mixture of water and chemicals that is growing in popularity.

The technique is likely to become more widespread in Maryland because of legislation passed in the last General Assembly, and signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore, that will add more clarity about how facilities can offer it.

Brown considers water cremations a “cleaner, greener, kinder and gentler” process than conventional cremations in which bodies are burned.

The process, also known as alkaline hydrolysis and aquamation, involves submerging the body in a large, heated and pressurized vessel filled with water and potassium hydroxide that rocks back and forth. The movement helps the solution break down the body quicker and more effectively, according to Brown. In some cases, the process can take as little as three hours for the body to dissolve. The remaining sterile liquid then goes into the same system as the water from cleaning dishes or taking a shower, and then heads to a treatment center.

Brown is working with the city’s Department of Public Works to get a wastewater discharge permit, which is required to ensure that incompatible waste isn’t being put into the city’s sanitary system.

At Brown’s funeral home, the bones can be air dried or dried in a dehydrator and put into a cremulator, which grinds the bone fragments before they are returned to families. There’s often more left over than with conventional cremations.

“We do this so that the bones can not be identified as human. … So if they scattered them somewhere, you’re not going to be walking down the street and see a femur,” Brown said.

While this will be a new service at Brown’s funeral home, the process is older than some would guess. Alkaline hydrolysis was patented by a farmer in the 1880s who wanted to find ways to make fertilizer out of dead livestock. South African anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu was aquamated after his death in 2021. And technically, the definition of cremation expanded to include processes beyond heat and flames in Maryland in 2010. But there wasn’t any guidance or explanation on how facilities would be licensed, regulated or overseen if they were to offer the service. Currently, it’s legal in over 20 states.

In May, Moore approved the Green Death Care Options Act, which assigns the Office of Cemetery Oversight and the State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors to outline regulations for facilities using alkaline hydrolysis and natural organic reduction. The latter is also referred to as “human composting,” which accelerates decomposition of a body and turns the remains into soil.

During hearings for the bill, many supported giving Marylanders additional, greener death care options. A retired journalist said he wanted his “body returned as purely and completely as possible to the Earth.”

Others expressed that they want the values they embraced during life to be reflected at death.

“I spend most of my leisure time enjoying the outdoors, living a life that values sustainability and wish to have a death care option at the end of my life that does not harm the environment,” Annapolis resident Sandy Huffer wrote in testimony supporting the bill.

The legislation goes into effect Oct. 1.

Water cremation started to pique Brown’s interest in 2010, but he didn’t feel the technology was good enough at the time. A manufacturer began building the water cremation setup about a year ago. The stainless steel vessel, which holds up to 500 pounds, sits in the room adjacent to the conventional cremation area.

Brown doesn’t expect people to be breaking down his door for the service, but he wants to offer options, especially for those who want direct cremation, which happens shortly after the person dies without a funeral service.

Chauncey Wylie, a funeral director and mortician with Wylie Funeral Homes, said he heard about the alternative death care option a few years ago and said a few people have already asked about it at the funeral home’s Liberty Road location. Though they do not offer the service, he believes the demand for it will gain traction in time.

“People are normally afraid of things they are not used to. So, when you’re used to people being buried … when you hear something different, you usually shy away from it and stick to what you know,” he said.

Wylie compares it to when conventional cremations were less common. Now, the U.S. national cremation growth rate could exceed 75% as early as 2038, according to the Cremation Association of North America.

Brown remembers receiving criticism after the early adoption of traditional cremations, including someone who told him that “we burn the trash and bury the dead.” He wonders what people will come up with as he prepares to offer water cremations, although the excuses will not deter him.

“So, now what are they gonna say? ‘Oh, so you’re flushing grandma down the toilet?’ ” Brown said.