Posted: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 8:54 pm
Officials
are still trying to determine what caused about 600 gallons of oil to
leak into a drainage ditch near the Brownsville Public Works
Headquarters on Jaime J. Zapata Avenue late Monday night.
Officials said the source of the spill has been secured and no more oil is leaking.
AssistantCity Manager Ruth Osuna
told reporters in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the city
uses the ditch solely for storm water transport and the system has no
connection to the public’s water supply.
“There is no danger to the public,” she said.
City spokeswoman Roxanna G.
Rosas said in a statement that city employees noticed the spill at about
6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Staff informed officials with the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality, the Port Authority, the Public Utilities Board
and Cameron County Drainage District No. 1.
City officials said Tuesday afternoon that the slick had made it less than a mile downstream.
Crews deployed bales of hay
beneath the bridge at the intersection of South Padre Island Highway and
Minnesota Avenue to limit water flow, though downstream a rust-colored
film stretched across the water’s surface like ice.
The city also brought in a
contracted chemical response and remediation team led by David Hanawa,
who explained that oil’s tendency to sit on top of water sometimes
allows clean water to flow beneath it. Hanawa also reported that it
didn’t seem likely that the spill would affect wildlife within the
man-made ravines.
“We haven’t seen any impacts to aquatic life,” he said.