Officials in Cheyenne, Wyoming say Meta’s data center construction
is responsible for the contamination of part of the town’s recycled water system.
The Board of Public Utilities traced the presence of a bacterium discovered in its wastewater treatment facility earlier this year to Goat Systems LLC, a Meta contractor for the tech company’s in-progress 715,000-square-foot data center campus, according to recent public notices from the BOPU.
The bacterium did not enter Cheyenne’s drinking water supply and was found in systems used for irrigation purposes only.
Cupriavidus gilardii is a rare organism typically found naturally in water and soil. Infections are extremely rare, the BOPU said, but can pose a threat to elders and immunocompromised individuals.
It was discovered during routine testing in February, prompting the BOPU to temporarily suspend the city’s reclaimed water irrigation program and terminate Meta’s discharge privileges. The board classified the incident as “significant non-compliance with federal pretreatment regulations.”
A Meta spokesperson told
Fortune the company is supporting Fortis, its general contractor, in its efforts to resolve the problem, and that Fortis began testing its own water through a third-party environmental specialist, who found no traces of the bacterium.
“Meta is committed to being a good neighbor in Cheyenne,” the spokesperson said.
Pollutants from data center construction and operations are part of the mounting anxieties Americans have around the exploding growth of AI infrastructure around the country. A recent Gallup poll found that about 70% of Americans somewhat or strongly oppose the construction of data centers in their local area. While half of respondents cited environmental concerns, such as excess water usage and deforestation, 16% of respondents cited pollutants, including air and water contamination, among reasons for their opposition.
—Sasha Rogelberg
