Cheyenne halts datacenter wastewater discharges after rare bacterium found in Meta facility runoff
By
Rob Thubron
Summary
Meta's $800 million data center under construction in Cheyenne, Wyoming, has introduced a rare bacterium (Cupriavidus gilardii) into the city's reclaimed water system through wastewater discharged by contractor Goat Systems. City officials have suspended all datacenter wastewater discharges while cleanup efforts are underway, highlighting growing tensions between tech infrastructure expansion and local environmental concerns.
Source
Key quotes
· 3 pulledCity 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.
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.
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