A rare bacterium found in Cheyenne's reclaimed water supply has been traced to a contractor building an $800 million data center for Meta, triggering new discharge restrictions that highlight the environmental pressures of the AI-driven construction boom.
The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities detected Cupriavidus gilardii during routine sampling in February. After months of investigation, officials linked the contamination to Fortis Construction, the general contractor on Meta's 715,000-square-foot "Project Cosmo" data center. Contaminated wastewater from the site had been flushed into public sewers, eventually reaching the city's reclaimed water system used for irrigating public green spaces.
Contamination traced to construction site
Fortis Construction was discharging wastewater that carried the bacterium into the municipal sewer network. The utility board said the city's drinking water was never affected, as the reclamation system is separate. Still, the discovery forced an immediate regulatory response. The board barred data centers from releasing certain types of process wastewater into the public system, a move that directly targets the kind of large-scale construction project now proliferating across the country.
A Meta spokesperson said Fortis stopped all discharge after being notified. "Meta is committed to being a good neighbor in Cheyenne, including through the protection of local water resources, and will continue encouraging collaboration between Fortis and the board until this situation is resolved," Francis Brennan said in a statement. Meta later conducted its own water tests and found no trace of the bacteria.
New regulations and response
The incident comes as U.S. data center construction surges to meet demand for artificial intelligence computing. About 4,500 data centers operate nationwide, according to the Data Center Map, with 31 in Wyoming alone. These facilities require immense amounts of water and energy, and their construction increasingly draws scrutiny from local regulators and public health officials.
Meta has pledged that its Wyoming data center will support more than 100 permanent jobs, invest in the local energy grid, and restore more water than it consumes by 2030. The company is also funding local water restoration projects. However, the contamination has already prompted stricter safety rules that will affect how future data center projects manage wastewater during construction.
Public health concerns and expert reaction
Cupriavidus gilardii is a naturally occurring bacterium found in soil and groundwater. Human infection is extremely rare but can lead to lung and blood infections, sepsis, and death. One documented case involved a 12-year-old girl with a bone marrow condition who died after contracting the bacterium while vacationing in Europe in 2010.
Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco, told the San Francisco Gate she still sees a potential risk. "I would not want it around my drinking water," Gandhi said. "I wouldn't want it anywhere."
Why this matters for real estate and construction professionals
For contractors, developers, and project owners, the Cheyenne case signals that environmental compliance on data center sites now extends well beyond traditional erosion control or dust management. Wastewater discharge-even from temporary construction activities-can trigger sudden regulatory crackdowns and project delays. As demand for AI computing power drives a wave of data center projects, professionals in AI for Real Estate & Construction are facing tighter oversight of water use, discharge permits, and on-site industrial processes. Early coordination with local utilities and clear wastewater management plans are becoming non-negotiable parts of the pre-construction phase, especially in water-stressed regions.
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