Meta's AI data center in North Carolina faced regulatory action after water contamination linked to cooling system maintenance.

Cheyenne, Wyoming's Board of Public Utilities has revoked waste-dumping privileges for every data center campus connected to municipal water services, following a contamination incident at a Meta-affiliated facility operated by Goat Systems LLC.

The company flooded local wastewater pipes with fill-and-flush discharge—water used to flood cooling systems before initial operation—that contained Cupriavidus gilardii, a rare and deadly multidrug-resistant bacterium. An investigation found Goat Systems in "significant noncompliance" with Cheyenne's industrial waste regulations.

"This isn't something we normally test for," Frank Strong, the Board of Public Utilities' engineering and water resource division manager, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The bacterium was initially detected during routine fecal contamination screening. "We actually had to go through quite a process to figure out what it was," Strong said.

Cupriavidus has been linked to ten deaths, including three cases involving immunocompromised children. According to case reviews, the infection carries a 31.3 percent mortality rate, based on 32 documented cases since 2009. Human infection is extremely rare.

The exact source of the pathogen within Meta's 800,000 square-foot Cheyenne campus—still under construction—remains unknown. However, wastewater from the facility contained it. "As soon as we became aware of the bacteria, and then of where it was coming from, we shut them down immediately," Strong said.

Meta and its construction contractor Fortis responded that industrial wastewater discharge was halted immediately upon notification, with remaining wastewater hauled offsite instead. "When the board shared that it found a substance in the city's wastewater—not public drinking water—Fortis immediately stopped discharging industrial wastewater and began hauling it offsite," a Meta spokesperson said.

No confirmed cases of human infection from the discharge have been reported. The incident reflects growing public scrutiny of data centers' environmental impacts and their effects on neighboring communities.