Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – A government team set up to deal with the massive mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, said Monday the disaster had not yet reached a level of danger that would justify dumping untreated mud into the sea.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who heads the newly established team, said after a closed-door meeting in Surabaya that ended about 10:30 p.m. the mudflow posed no immediate threat to people or the economy.

"Currently, the mudflow is an emergency situation but it has not reached the dangerous level," he told reporters after the meeting.

He said only if the situation in Sidoarjo posed an immediate risk to people's lives or the economy would emergency measures such as dumping untreated toxic mud into the sea be allowed.

When asked about a decision by the local administration to pipe untreated water from the mud into the nearby Porong River, the government team said that was an emergency situation after a containment pond collapsed, threatening residents and their homes.

The team's executive chairman, Basuki Hadimuljono, said the piping of the water into the river would be stopped once a new 435-hectare containment pond was completed.

Basuki said Sunday the team also had recommended the immediate dumping of water from the mudflow into the sea after the containment pond collapsed, only the latest in a series of pond failures. He said a final decision on the matter would be made during Monday's meeting.

Among those attending the meeting in Surabaya were State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar, East Java Governor Imam Utomo, Sidoarjo Regent Win Hendrarso and representatives from Lapindo Brantas Inc., the gas company at the center of the disaster.

However, the deputy director of the East Java chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, Catur Nusantara, said the group would file a lawsuit if the dumping of untreated water in Porong River was not halted immediately, despite support from residents for the work.

"We'll file a lawsuit against Lapindo, BP Migas and the East Java and Sidoarjo administrations. They've committed an environmental crime," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday. BP Migas is the oil and gas upstream regulatory agency.

Hundreds of villagers have been camped on the Surabaya-Gempol turnpike since Saturday, following the collapse of two containment ponds Friday. They are demanding authorities do something about the mud.

When the ponds broke the mud submerged their homes. They refused to seek shelter in Porong market, fearing that too would be submerged.

Although the mud and water has begun to subside in their houses, they say they will remain on the turnpike until the government guarantees the safety of them and their homes.

This situation prompted the Sidoarjo administration to approve the dumping of untreated water into Porong River, despite the absence of approval from State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar.