A council in the West Midlands has seen its proposal to offer an eco-friendly alternative to cremation hit a blockage.
Water companies are refusing permission for Sandwell Council to flush remains down drains.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council had wanted to liquefy the dead, using a £300,000 “Resomator” for water cremations at its Rowley Regis crematorium.
The council planned to use alkaline hydrolysis, a process which adds together chemicals, heat and pressure to dissolve bodies in less than 180 minutes.
It uses significantly less energy than cremation.
But Severn Trent Water has refused the crematorium’s request for a “trade effluent” permit.
According to a report in the Sunday Times, the permit would be necessary for disposing of body remnants into the water supply.
The water sector is now waiting on guidance from the Ministry of Justice and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before to set out how alkaline hydrolysis remains should be disposed of.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council is working with Resomation, which produces the pressurised resomator chambers where bodies are first weighed to calculate the chemical mix needed to dissolve the body.
The body is heated to dissolve, with temperatures reaching a staggering 152C, after it is covered in an alkaline solution.
At the end of the process, only teeth and bones remain.
This compares to the temperatures of up to 1150C used in cremation, with each body taking up to 70 minutes to be reduced to ash.
A Sandwell Council spokesperson said: "The funeral industry is evolving and modernising and we want to offer people more choice.
"Water cremation is the next phase in this evolution and would give people an option that is more environmentally friendly than traditional cremation.
"We are working closely with Resomation UK, Water UK and other regulatory bodies to explore all options for the introduction of this new process.
“Once approved, Rowley Regis Crematorium in Sandwell will be the first in the UK to offer a water cremation."
