Cheyenne Restricts Data Center Wastewater

Cheyenne officials linked a wastewater discharge from construction of Meta’s Project Cosmo data center to the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii in the city’s sewer and reclaimed-water systems.

The Board of Public Utilities suspended reclaimed-water irrigation, ended Meta’s discharge privileges, and now requires affected cooling and floor-drain water to be collected and disposed of offsite. Meta and contractor Fortis Construction dispute aspects of the contamination evidence and say independent testing found no trace of the bacterium.