Meta Platforms' promise to be a 'good neighbour' at its nearly $800 million data centre campus in Cheyenne, Wyoming is under scrutiny after wastewater from its construction contractor was linked to a rare, metal‑resistant bacterium that shut the city's reclaimed water programme for months and forced permanent tightening of industrial discharge rules.
Routine monitoring in February detected Cupriavidus gilardii, an uncommon environmental bacterium, in Cheyenne's wastewater system. The city's Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) traced the discharge to Goat Systems LLC, a contractor working on Meta's campus, revoked the company's industrial discharge privileges on 24 March and later barred wastewater from data centre fill‑and‑flush and closed‑loop cooling operations from entering the municipal sewer. Drinking water was not affected.
