We report efforts to carry out the reduction of CO₂ in mixtures of imidazolium based RTIL in water (H₂O) as functions IL:H₂O solution ratio and solution pH. IL electrolytes are expensive (relative to water) and many are hydroscopic. Development of CO₂ reduction methods based on electrolytes tolerant of significant amounts of water is desirable for large-scale processes. Further, optimization of solution conditions will allow reduced over-potentials, suppression of the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), increases in diffusion rate of dissolved carbon dioxide, and overall improved current efficiencies. In this work we discuss the varying concentration and source of protons in the context of results obtained by carrying out the CO₂ reduction in aqueous/IL solutions at various pH values.