Meta changes waste practices after environmental incident
Meta has implemented stricter waste management practices at its Cheyenne data center after an environmental incident where a rare bacterium was released into the city's reclaimed water system during construction. The city has permanently revoked Meta's discharge privileges and enacted new regulations and infrastructure requirements for all data centers to prevent similar future contaminations. Meta and its contractors face fines to cover remediation costs.
Meta has overhauled its waste management protocols at its Cheyenne data center after an environmental incident during the construction of its Project Cosmo facility. A contractor, Goat Systems LLC, discharged water contaminated with the bacterium Cupriavidus gilardii directly into Cheyenne's sanitary sewer system during a "fill-and-flush" operation. This bacterium, while generally harmless, posed a risk to vulnerable individuals and contaminated the city’s reclaimed water network, which irrigates public spaces.
The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) detected the contamination in February 2026, leading to a suspension of the reclaimed water program for several months and a comprehensive system cleaning. While the city’s potable water supply remained unaffected, some bacteria reached Crow Creek. In response, Meta's general contractor, Fortis, halted industrial wastewater discharges, and Meta began transporting its wastewater offsite, also engaging environmental specialists for monitoring.
As a direct consequence, BOPU permanently revoked Meta's ability to discharge water from "fill-and-flush" operations. The city has also implemented a new policy prohibiting all data centers from discharging cooling system water or initial cleaning process water into the municipal sewer. New regulations now require industrial facilities to build separate collection systems with storage tanks for cooling water, completely disconnecting from the sanitary sewer. Meta and its contractor face substantial fines to cover the city's remediation expenses.