Industrial wastewater from a Meta data center introduced a rare, drug-resistant bacterium into the water reclamation system in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The incident highlights the environmental risks associated with the rapid expansion of massive data center cooling systems and their impact on municipal infrastructure.
According to city officials, the contamination originated from the construction and commissioning of the data center's cooling system. The company utilized a contractor, Goat Systems LLC, to manage these operations. The resulting discharge introduced a bacterium that is both metal- and drug-resistant into the city's wastewater stream [1], [3].
The contamination forced the city to take two water reclamation plants offline [1]. These facilities, identified as the Dry Creek and Crow Creek plants, remained shut down for several months [1], [2].
In response to the contamination, the Board of Public Utilities took action to prevent further incidents. The board halted all industrial wastewater discharges from similar cooling systems to protect the municipal reclamation process [3], [4].
Local officials said the discovery of the resistant bacteria was a significant failure in the oversight of industrial discharges. A city councilman said the link to the Meta facility was definitive [1]. The event underscores the challenge cities face when integrating high-capacity industrial technology into existing public utility frameworks.
“The contamination forced the city to take two water reclamation plants offline.”
This incident demonstrates the potential for specialized industrial pollutants to bypass standard municipal water treatment protocols. As tech companies scale their physical infrastructure, the introduction of non-native, resistant biological agents into public systems creates a new category of operational risk for city utilities, potentially necessitating stricter pre-treatment requirements for data center wastewater.
