CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Officials here traced a rare bacterium to wastewater from Meta Platforms Inc.’s massive data center project. The discovery has forced a months-long shutdown of the city’s reclaimed water system. It also prompted tighter rules on industrial discharges.
The bacterium, Cupriavidus gilardii, turned up during routine testing in February. City utilities staff sampled the reclaimed water used for irrigating parks, golf courses and other public spaces. Months of investigation followed. By early July they pinned the source on construction activities at Meta’s 715,000-square-foot facility.
Contractor discharge sparks regulatory crackdown
Goat Systems LLC, the contractor building the site for Meta, discharged water from “fill-and-flush” operations into the municipal sewer. That water already carried the organism. The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities labeled the incident significant noncompliance with federal pretreatment regulations. It suspended the city’s reclaimed water irrigation program. It revoked the contractor’s discharge privileges.
Remediation took months. Workers drained and disinfected the entire reuse system plus Prairie View Pond. The system stayed offline while tests confirmed the bacterium was gone. No illnesses were reported. Drinking water supplies stayed clean. Still, the aerosolized reclaimed water raised worries about potential exposure.
“The concern we have with our reuse system is we put it into aerosol, where we spray it onto the grass, and that increases the potential for health issues,” a BOPU official told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The paper first detailed the link between the Meta project and the contamination.
Erin Lamb, BOPU spokesperson, later confirmed to Business Insider that sampling at the site connected the discharge directly to the bacterium’s presence. “We were able to connect the Meta Data Center campus to this through sampling their site and it was determined to be through their fill-and-flush discharge that the bacteria was introduced to the system.”
Meta responded quickly. A spokesperson said the company supports its general contractor, Fortis Construction, in fixing the problem. Fortis tested its own water. No traces of the bacterium appeared. The firm stopped discharging as soon as it learned of the issue. Meta stressed its desire to be a good neighbor. It pointed to earlier commitments to bolster the local energy grid and fund water restoration projects along Crow Creek with Black Hills Energy and the Laramie County Conservation District.
But the episode lands at a tense moment. Data centers are multiplying across Wyoming. Cheyenne alone hosts 27. The state has 31. Northern Virginia, by comparison, counts around 550. Meta announced the $800 million Cheyenne campus in July 2024. The project promised more than 1,000 construction jobs at peak and about 100 permanent positions. It sits in the High Plains Business Park. Known internally as Project Cosmo, the facility will support the company’s artificial intelligence ambitions.
Yet public sentiment has soured. A Gallup poll released this year found 70% of Americans oppose new data centers in their communities. Half cited environmental worries such as heavy water consumption and land clearing. Another 16% pointed to pollutants, including risks of water contamination. This Wyoming case gives those fears concrete form.
The bacterium itself rarely causes trouble. Cupriavidus gilardii occurs naturally in soil and water. It resists metals and some antibiotics. Infections remain uncommon but can prove serious for older adults or people with weakened immune systems. Medical literature records a handful of severe cases, some fatal. One review of known infections put the mortality rate near 31%. That rarity, however, offers little comfort to officials suddenly confronting it in municipal infrastructure.
The incident appears to be the first publicly reported microbial contamination tied to an AI data center project, according to Forbes. Cooling systems in such facilities often rely on large volumes of water. Closed-loop designs still require periodic flushing and treatment. Those steps can introduce or spread organisms if not managed carefully. Past outbreaks of Legionella in cooling towers offer a cautionary parallel, though that pathogen spreads through airborne droplets and has caused far more documented illness.
Wyoming regulators moved fast once the source was clear. The Board of Public Utilities now bans wastewater discharges from certain data center operations. The rule change affects not just Meta but every similar facility connected to city services. Contractors must haul water offsite or treat it to stricter standards before release. The move signals growing caution as the state courts tech investment while protecting limited water resources.
Local leaders tried to separate the construction mishap from future operations. Betsey Hale, CEO of Cheyenne LEADS, emphasized that the facility itself is not yet online. “This incident occurred during construction of the Meta facility, rather than during operation of the data center,” she told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Even so, the episode exposes gaps in oversight. Data center construction involves massive piping networks, chemical treatments and large water volumes. Commissioning those systems can generate wastewater with unexpected biological loads. Standard pretreatment rules may not anticipate every organism that shows up in fill water drawn from local sources.
Meta has promised ongoing cooperation. It says it will continue investing in community projects. Yet residents and officials remain wary. One SFGate article quoted a local saying, “I wouldn’t want it anywhere.” The remark captured broader fatigue with rapid tech expansion in rural areas.
And the pressure only grows. AI training demands ever-larger clusters of graphics processors and servers. Each one throws off heat. Water remains the cheapest, most efficient way to carry that heat away. Companies race to secure power, land and water rights. States like Wyoming offer cheap electricity and open spaces. They also possess fragile aquifers and limited treatment capacity.
The Ogallala Aquifer, which recharges in part from projects like Crow Creek restoration, sits downstream of these concerns. Contaminating even reclaimed streams can ripple outward. Regulators here now scrutinize every industrial user more closely. Other states watching the Meta case may tighten their own pretreatment programs.
For now the reclaimed water system is back in service. Tests show the bacterium gone. The pond and pipes have been cleaned. Meta’s contractor hauls its wastewater elsewhere. But the episode lingers. It reminds communities chasing data center jobs that the infrastructure carries hidden costs. Those costs can appear in the most unexpected places. A routine water sample. A rare organism. Months of disruption.
City officials plan a press conference to outline lessons learned. They hope the new rules prevent repeats. Meta continues construction. The facility will come online eventually. When it does, both sides say they want the relationship to work. Trust, however, will take time to rebuild. One contaminated pond at a time.
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