CONNECTING THE DOTS: Meta's massive data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, isn't even finished, but it's already become another illustration of why more people would rather live next to a nuclear power plant than one of these facilities. City officials say wastewater from the site introduced a rare bacterium into Cheyenne's reclaimed water system, forcing a cleanup and a wider pause on data center discharges.
Cheyenne's Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) traced Cupriavidus gilardii to wastewater discharged by Goat Systems, a contractor working on Meta's $800 million, 715,000-square-foot data center south of the city. The facility, announced in 2024, is being built for Meta's AI workloads and is expected to come online in 2027.
The good news is that the bacterium did not enter the city's drinking water. The affected system is Cheyenne's reuse water network, which treats water for irrigation at places such as parks and golf courses.
That's still not exactly reassuring when the substance in question is a rare, metal-resistant bacterium that officials say can pose a risk to elderly and immunocompromised people through direct exposure.
According to the BOPU, the bacterium was first detected during routine wastewater sampling in late February. Further testing by the Wyoming Public Health Laboratory identified it as Cupriavidus gilardii, a naturally occurring organism found in soil and groundwater. The board later traced the source to an industrial user and permanently terminated that user's discharge privileges.
