This past weekend California Congress voted overwhelmingly to authorize water cremation in the State. California’s Water Cremation Bill was authored by Assembly member Todd Gloria and sponsored by Qico, the San Diego based water cremation manufacturer. California would become the 15th state to authorize the process.
While two earlier attempts at authorizing water cremation in CA had failed, this was the first time that Gloria, Qico, and advocacy group Corbin & Kaiser had each been involved in getting the legislation passed. And they did so in just one legislative cycle. The bill also saw support from water cremation advocate Dean Fisher, who has been using alkaline hydrolysis technology at UCLA Medical for several years.
“Having California as the 15th state to authorize water cremation is great, but it is just the beginning for the country as a whole” said Qico CEO Jack Ingraham. “Interest in Water Cremation has seen staggering growth in the time since we began working on the California bill.”
“When discussing water cremation against traditional flame cremation, studies show more than 4 in 5 people would chose water.” continues Ingraham. “Families all over the country are eager for this gentler end of life option and we are glad that families in CA will soon be able to make that choice.
Water cremation has been recently featured in NPR, Wired UK, and Scientific American. In the piece for Scientific American, Assembly member Gloria was quoted saying “If you’re concerned about gas emissions, the choice [of cremation using water] is pretty obvious.”
In the piece for Scientific American, Assembly member Gloria was quoted saying “If you’re concerned about gas emissions, the choice [of cremation using water] is pretty obvious.” Gloria went on to say, “I plan to be cremated…It would be poetic if I could take advantage of my own bill.”Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign the bill into law by the October 15
Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign the bill into law by the October 15th deadline. Gov. Brown has been vocal in his support for environmentally friendly technology. In 2016, he awarded Qico tax credits to raise their facilities into the San Diego region.
The growing public interest and environmental benefit to water cremation have led us to include the technology in our list of iconic news stories shaping the future of death care. See the full list here.
Source: Oico Inc.
