water pollution

In late 2022, the Bluff Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant was found to be discharging raw sewage into its namesake waterway. Years later, the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office has brought criminal charges against former plant employees who allegedly knew about the problem but failed to stop it.

A ruling in a 20-year-old lawsuit could have far-reaching environmental consequences for the river and surrounding region.

KOSU hired Graycen Wheeler as the station’s first reporter covering water issues in 2022. She hasn’t stopped covering major environmental issues and the lighter side of water since. Here are five of her favorite stories from 2024.

Stitt will replace Ken McQueen with energy professional Jeff Starling.

An estimated 10 to 20 tons of fish died on the Piracicaba River, prosecutors said. An initial investigation points to an "irregular discharge of wastewater" from a sugar and ethanol plant.

Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”

Leaders from Oklahoma’s Five Tribes are asking the state legislature not to move forward with a bill that would shield some poultry farmers from lawsuits, even if they pollute streams, rivers or lakes.

The Central Oklahoma Stormwater Alliance is partnering with eleven communities to get affordable rain barrels into people’s yards.

Coolers. Tires. A shopping cart. A couch. 45 big black trash bags full of debris.

Tyson Foods and other Arkansas poultry companies have filed a motion to dismiss a court ruling that says they’re responsible for cleaning up pollution in Oklahoma’s Illinois River Watershed.