2 men charged after raw sewage flows through parts of Bluff Creek

Anthony Menzie and Glenn Brentnell face a string of charges after raw sewage was found flowing into Bluff Creek and on a nearby road.  

Investigators said the two worked at the Bethany-Warr Acres Public Works Authority - a water treatment plant and knowingly allowed the contaminated water to run into the nearby creek. 

Both men have a list of charges, but on Friday, Menzie was taken to the Oklahoma City Jail in an unmarked car belonging to the Department of Environmental Quality. 

Timeline of events 

1. DEQ Water Quality Division Director Shellie Chard said the inspections at Bethany-Warr Acres began in 2019 when they noticed inaccuracies in the record-keeping.  
2. Chard also said in 2019 that the company had an expired permit that raised more concerns. 
3. DEQ began looking at some of the permit issues and also checking to see if the company was properly taking samples and reporting the values accurately, which is a requirement of the state and federal law. 
4. Chard said the inspections continued, but they kept seeing a decline in the treatment equipment. 
5. In 2022, they began receiving phone calls to a DEQ environmental complaint hotline from residents in the area stating it looks and smells like sewage in Bluff Creek. 
6. Chard said that for the next few years, DEQ heavily monitored the plant.  
7. Different orders were issued to the water management company, including an enforcement order carrying a penalty of about 400,000 dollars. 
8. Chard said they implemented a temporary solution, working with Oklahoma City to make an emergency connection to get the raw sewage out of the bar ditch off the road and out of Bluff Creek.