Why we built Active Aluminum™

Our purpose

Lakes and the communities around them cannot keep losing summers to algae, toxins, beach closures, and uncertainty. Ion Works was founded to turn a half-century of proven alum chemistry into an everyday, automated form of lake protection that any community can access.

What we believe

Alum-based phosphorus inactivation is the most thoroughly demonstrated form of internal-load control in modern limnology. Lake Ketchum, Washington reduced internal phosphorus by over 90% and held a clear, stable state for years. Similar projects have succeeded in more than a hundred North American lakes under EPA authority.

But the conventional delivery method — boats, barges, slurry tanks, one-off campaigns — is expensive, intermittent, and visible. It scales poorly to the thousands of lakes that need protection. We believe the chemistry should be quiet, continuous, and built into the lake’s infrastructure rather than dropped on it once every decade.

Engineering, not laboratory

Ion Works designs for real water under real weather, year after year. Our team combines electrochemistry, sensing, marine engineering, and lake science. We hold five patents covering the core architecture (four issued, one application). 

Secondary benefits

Reducing the phosphorus load also reduces the organic rain to the lakebed, which over time stabilizes deep-water oxygen and supports the microbial communities that consume methane before it reaches the atmosphere. Healthy phosphorus chemistry tends to bring the rest of the system back with it.

Ion Works Inc. was created to solve a simple but urgent problem: lakes and the communities around them cannot afford to keep losing summers to algae, toxins, beach closures, and uncertainty. Oxybot grew out of decades of experience in water technology, hands‑on engineering, and field deployments, combined with a deep respect for the science behind lakes and the people who depend on them.

Rather than designing technology for the lab, Ion Works focuses on systems that work in real water, under real weather, year after year. The team blends expertise in robotics,  electrochemistry, sensing, and lake science into a single, integrated platform that can patrol, measure, and respond without constant human intervention. The goal is straightforward: turn advanced treatment methods—once limited to specialized projects like alum restoration—into an everyday, automated service that any lake can access.

As pressures on freshwater grow, Ion Works is committed to lowering the barriers to effective lake protection. That means reducing the need for emergency call‑outs and one‑off treatments, and replacing them with continuous, quiet, in‑lake guardianship. Working with universities, lake associations, utilities, and private landowners, the company deploys Oxybot systems that help protect recreation and property values, support local economies, and give communities confidence that their lakes are being actively cared for—not just monitored.

The mission is clear: make trustworthy lake protection accessible, evidence‑informed, and financially sustainable, so that healthy, clear, climate‑resilient lakes become the norm rather than the exception.