![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2277883461-e1783692691819.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cheyenne, Wyoming, officials say Meta\u2019s data center construction is responsible for the contamination of part of the town\u2019s recycled water system.<\/p>\n
The Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) 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\u2019s in-progress 715,000-square-foot data center campus, according to recent public notices from the BOPU. <\/p>\n
The bacterium did not enter Cheyenne\u2019s 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 from this bacterium are extremely rare, BOPU said, but can pose a threat to elders and immunocompromised individuals directly exposed to it.<\/p>\n
It was discovered during routine testing in February, prompting BOPU to temporarily suspend the city\u2019s reclaimed water irrigation program and terminate Meta\u2019s discharge privileges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The board also announced last week it would not accept industrial wastewater discharges associated with fill-and-flush operations\u2014which circulates, then flushes purified water to eliminate construction debris and residue\u2014nor closed-loop cooling systems popular in data centers that circulate coolants mixed with water.<\/p>\n
The board classified the incident as \u201csignificant non-compliance with federal pretreatment regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past two months, BOPU staff have undertaken significant remediation efforts, including draining and disinfecting the entire reuse water system and Prairie View Pond to eliminate any remaining bacterial presence,\u201d one notice said.<\/p>\n
Cheyenne\u2019s BOPU declined Fortune<\/em>\u2019s request for comment and said it will hold a press conference in the next week with additional details on the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n A Meta spokesperson told Fortune<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the board shared that it found a substance in the city\u2019s wastewater\u2014not public drinking water\u2014Fortis immediately stopped discharging industrial wastewater and began hauling it offsite,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cMeta is committed to being a good neighbor in Cheyenne, including through the protection of local water resources, and will continue encouraging collaboration between Fortis and the board until this situation is resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 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.<\/p>\n Meta announced the construction of the Cheyenne data center in July 2024, saying it would be the company\u2019s 21st data center in the U.S. and 25th globally. According to the company, Cheyenne provided access to infrastructure and energy and had a large talent pool from which to recruit. <\/p>\n Meta projected that the $800 million investment would sustain more than 1,000 construction jobs at the height of the build and support 100 jobs once completed. The campus is one of 27 data centers in Cheyenne and 31 in Wyoming. By comparison, Northern Virginia has the most data centers in the country, with about 550.<\/p>\n The tech company, for its part, previously said it would allocate resources toward the energy grid and water-cleanup efforts, including working with Black Hills Energy and the Laramie County Conservation District to restore Crow Creek, which recharges the state\u2019s Ogallala Aquifer.<\/p>\n \u201cMeta wants to be a positive contributor in communities like Cheyenne,\u201d the company\u2019s announcement said. \u201cAnd that includes investing in the energy grid and supporting local water restoration projects.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Wyoming #officials #Metas #715000squarefoot #data #center #responsible #water #system #contamination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cheyenne, Wyoming, officials say Meta\u2019s data center construction is responsible for the contamination of part of the town\u2019s recycled water system. The Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) traced the presence… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13053,4905,13055,343,1037,1278,400,368,2718,7365,13054,950,1753,13052],"class_list":["post-11551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-715000squarefoot","tag-center","tag-contamination","tag-data","tag-data-centers","tag-infrastructure","tag-meta","tag-metas","tag-officials","tag-pollution","tag-responsible","tag-system","tag-water","tag-wyoming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}