Rare Bacterium Detected at Meta's AI Data Centre Construction Site in Wyoming

A massive AI data centre backed by Mark Zuckerberg has come under fire in Wyoming after a rare bacterium was detected in industrial wastewater linked to the construction site. The incident was reported at Meta’s Project Cosmo, an 800,000-square-foot (74,322.4-square-metre) AI data centre under construction in Cheyenne’s High Plains Business Park. City officials say contaminated wastewater generated during construction entered Cheyenne’s sewer system, leading authorities to investigate the source. The issue came to light in February when routine wastewater testing detected Cupriavidus gilardii, a naturally occurring bacterium, in water flowing into the city’s sanitary sewer system. Officials traced the discharge to Goat Systems LLC, a contractor working on Zuckerberg’s Meta data centre. According to authorities, the wastewater had been used during a “fill and flush” process to clean the site’s closed-loop cooling system before it became operational. Although Cupriavidus gilardii is commonly found in soil, health experts classify it as an opportunistic pathogen because it can pose serious health risks to people with weakened immune systems or underlying medical conditions. Human infections caused by the bacterium are extremely rare, but medical literature has documented cases involving severe complications such as sepsis and septic shock. The discovery was considered serious enough for city officials to act immediately. Officials also stressed that the bacterium was detected only in industrial wastewater entering the city’s reclamation system and never reached Cheyenne’s public drinking water supply. Following the discovery, the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities permanently revoked the contractor’s permission to discharge wastewater into the city’s treatment facilities. The contamination also forced two water reclamation plants offline while crews began an extensive cleaning process expected to take several months. Unlike drinking water facilities, Cheyenne’s reclaimed water is treated and reused to irrigate parks, golf courses and other public green spaces. Officials said this raised additional concerns because spraying reclaimed water could potentially aerosolise contaminants. Frank Strong, engineering and water resource division manager for the Board of Public Utilities, explained that the city could not determine exactly when the bacterium entered the system. The incident has also led Cheyenne to introduce stricter environmental regulations. Under the new rules, data centres using similar closed-loop cooling systems can no longer discharge industrial wastewater into the city’s treatment facilities unless they build separate collection systems to transport the wastewater elsewhere for disposal. Responding to the incident, a Meta spokesperson said contractor Fortis immediately stopped all wastewater discharges after city officials reported that an unidentified substance had been found. The spokesperson added that Fortis hired an independent environmental specialist to carry out additional testing, which reportedly found no trace of Cupriavidus gilardii in the contractor’s own samples. Meta also maintained that the contamination never affected Cheyenne’s drinking water and said it remains committed to protecting local water resources. The company described itself as wanting to be “a good neighbour”and said it would continue cooperating with Cheyenne officials until the issue is fully resolved. While authorities have repeatedly confirmed that residents’ drinking water remained safe throughout the incident, the discovery has intensified scrutiny of the environmental footprint of Zuckerberg’s rapidly expanding AI infrastructure as Meta continues to invest heavily in large-scale data centres.