Rare bacterium found contaminating Cheyenne's water reclamation plant linked to Meta's datacenter; City Councilman says: It definitely ...

Cheyenne officials have identified a Meta data center construction project as the source of a rare bacterial contamination that temporarily shut down two of the city's water reclamation plants, reports Tom’s Hardware.

The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities has permanently stopped accepting industrial wastewater from closed-loop data center cooling systems after the incident, the report states. The contamination was traced to wastewater discharged by Goat Systems LLC, the contractor building Meta's Cheyenne campus. Following the discovery, Cheyenne City Councilman Pete Laybourn said the revelation was "a very, very unpleasant surprise" and added, "It definitely complicates matters."

Meta data center linked to rare bacterium contamination

The Board of Public Utilities said testing detected the rare bacterium Cupriavidus gilardii after Goat Systems discharged wastewater into Cheyenne's sanitary sewer. The wastewater came from a fill-and-flush operation used to clean the closed-loop cooling system at Meta's data center before it was filled with cooling liquid and sealed.According to the board, the source of the bacterium itself remains unknown.

Frank Strong, the board's engineering and water resource division manager, said the water used during the flushing process had been purchased directly from the Board of Public Utilities.

Two water reclamation plants temporarily shut down

The contamination forced the city's Dry Creek and Crow Creek water reclamation plants offline for maintenance and decontamination. The cleanup lasted several months before both facilities were cleared to resume operations in late June.Goat Systems had its wastewater discharge privileges revoked in late March, before the city expanded the restriction to other data centers using similar cooling systems.Following the incident, the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities announced that it will no longer accept industrial wastewater generated by closed-loop data center cooling systems.Officials said the contamination has raised broader concerns about whether municipal treatment facilities are equipped to handle wastewater generated during large-scale data center construction.

The city's reclaimed water is used to irrigate parks, golf courses and other public green spaces.Reacting to the findings, Cheyenne City Councilman Pete Laybourn said learning that Meta's project was linked to the contamination came as "a very, very unpleasant surprise.” "I have a lot yet to learn. It definitely complicates matters," he said.