A public health warning is being issued for the Lehman Hot Springs area by the Department of Environmental Quality because of an overflowing sewage lagoon.

The DEQ is advising the public to stay away from the area and to avoid contact with Warm Spring Creek and Camas Creek.

Untreated sewage is overflowing a lagoon on the resort property and is discharging into Warm Spring Creek, a tributary of Camas Creek, according to the DEQ.

The problem, caused by melting snow, could get worse.

An inspection of the site by DEQ officials indicates that a dike, holding 3 million gallons of untreated sewage, is saturated and in danger of collapsing. A dike collapse could cause substantial, localized environmental damage and public health issues, the DEQ said.

The state agency is recommending that the resort’s owner, J. Patrick Lucas, immediately make arrangements to pump out water from the lagoon. This is being done, said Celia Howes, an attorney representing Lucas.

“Water is being pumped out and sent (by truck) to Ukiah,” Howes said.

She said that there is no present health threat.

“To say that there is danger is just wrong. There is no danger to the public,” said Howes, who is with the Portland law firm of Hoevet, Boise and Olson.

Howes explained that there is no danger because DEQ officials are on site working with Lucas and others with Lehman Hot Springs to address the problem.

Lehman Hot Springs resort is about 16 miles east of Ukiah, off Highway 244.

The DEQ has contacted the following agencies about the problem – Umatilla County Emergency Services, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Oregon Water Resources Department and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

The Oregon Department of Transportation is placing signs around the area to alert motorists of the problem.

The DEQ has been working with the Oregon Department of Justice for several years to get Lehman Hot Springs operators to come into compliance with environmental regulations. Unlawful releases of waste water have also occurred at the facility in 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000, according to the DEQ. The two most recent illegal discharges were on June 13, 2005, and March 16, 2006.