A water main break and mysterious oil spill closed down parts of 6th street overnight, and crews are now trying to figure out where the oil came from.

 

A pedestrian called police after noticing oil in the alleyway between the Driskill Hotel and the Littlefield Building on 6th street between Brazos.  Oil was seeping through a manhole in the alley. Cleanup crews mopped up about 20,000 gallons of an oil and water mixture.

 

6th Street was closed between Brazos and Congress most of the night.  Two lanes of 6th street are back open.  Businesses in the square block between 6th and 7th Streets and between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street are currently without water, including the Driskill Hotel.  Crews are working on getting water temporarily back on at the Driskill.

 

Once the mess is cleaned up, Austin water will go in and find the source of the water main, and the source of the oik, which they say could take several hours.

 

"We expect the repairs today to take between 10 and 15 hours, its going to be a lengthy repair, primarily just due to the cleanup."  says Austin Energy Official Kevin Buchman.  "At this point we don't know where the oil came from, and we are very interested in trying to identify the source of that."