Wastewater Discharge Halted at Meta Data Center Due to Water Contamination

The public utility board of Cheyenne, Wyoming suspended wastewater acceptance after discovering a rare bacterium, Cupriavidus gilardii, in industrial wastewater discharged by Goat Systems LLC (the company responsible for building Meta's campus).

Key details of the incident are as follows:

• Cause of contamination: Wastewater generated during the "fill-and-flush" process (pipe cleaning and filling) performed when first starting up a data center cooling loop flowed into the city's sewage system.
• Impact: The bacterium disabled the reuse systems at two water treatment facilities, leading to months of cleanup work.
• Actions taken: The board revoked the company's discharge permit, and has now suspended wastewater discharge for all data centers within the city of Cheyenne.

Meta stated that independent testing did not detect the bacterium, and it is currently responding by halting wastewater discharge and hauling wastewater offsite instead. This incident highlights the importance of regulation and management of data centers' water usage and environmental impact amid the expansion of AI infrastructure.