The Hidden Climate Volcano Beneath Our Lakes

Across the world, stressed lakes and reservoirs are quietly becoming powerful drivers of climate change, releasing methane in amounts that rival major industrial sources. As nutrients build up and algal growth accelerates, the bottom waters of these lakes often slip into low‑oxygen conditions, turning soft sediments into methane “factories” that vent gas straight to the atmosphere. What looks like a peaceful rural lake can, in reality, be a hidden climate amplifier and a growing risk to local communities.

The same chemistry that fuels harmful algal blooms also powers this methane engine. When oxygen collapses and phosphorus is allowed to recycle season after season, blooms become more frequent, more toxic, and harder to control, while unseen methane continues to escape from the depths. By restoring oxygen and capturing the phosphorus that drives this cycle, a lake can flip directions: methane is consumed before it reaches the air, nutrients become locked into stable mineral forms, water clears, and the ecosystem begins to recover its resilience. This is the foundation behind Oxybot. Instead of relying on occasional, manual treatments, Oxybot moves quietly across the lake, re‑oxygenating critical zones and using an aluminum‑based treatment approach—an evolution of proven alum methods—to bind and remove the bioavailable phosphorus that feeds blooms. Each lake brought back into a clear, oxygenated state is not only a local water‑quality success; it also becomes a small but measurable climate asset, reducing one of the least managed sources of greenhouse gases on the planet. 

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.