(FOX 8) Cleanup crews are responding Wednesday morning to a diesel leak near Pumping Station No. 6 compounding recent pumping problems that forced the city and state to declare a state of emergency last week.
Pumping station No. 6, which sits at the 17th Street Canal, was quiet Tuesday but is the scene of much more activity on Wednesday morning.
Trucks from the Department of Environmental Quality and hazardous material cleanup crews along with several boats are stationed in the parking lot.
There is the unmistakable odor of diesel in the air.
Tyronne Walker, spokesman for New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said New Orleans Fire Department officials were notified of the odor near the pumping station around 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Walker said officials could not determine where the oil was leaking from in the dark.
When crews returned in the morning, they confirmed no diesel fuel was leaking from the pumping station, but slicks can be seen near the station on the canal.
Wednesday afternoon, officials believed the source of the leak was a million gallon diesel fuel tank at the S&WB plant on Claiborne.