EAST HOPE - University of Idaho researchers will return to Lake Pend Oreille's Ellisport Bay this week to install barriers that have proven effective in killing Asian clams.

The researchers and volunteers installed the synthetic rubber pond liner with satchels of sodium hydroxide last month. They plan to return on Thursday to realign some of the barriers that are already in place and install the remaining barriers.

The university's College of Natural Resources is leading the project, which is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Asian clams, which are deemed an aquatic invasive species in Idaho, are thought to have been introduced into Pend Oreille when they were a dietary staple among workers who built the railroad lines through Bonner County.

The filter-feeder clams undermine the bottom of the food chain and disrupt the benthic invertebrate colonies in the water, according to Tom Woolf of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.

The use of liners and sodium hydroxide has been proven in lab tests to be lethal to Asian clams. The sodium hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide to form a non-toxic salt byproduct, according to the research team.

The treatment area is less than a half acre.

The area is expected to remain under treatment from now until April 15.

Households within a fifth of a mile from the treatment area which draw from the lake for drinking water and irrigation are advised to shut off their intakes for at least 60 days.