Overview
- Routine testing in February found the rare bacterium Cupriavidus gilardii in Cheyenne’s reclaimed irrigation water and months of investigation traced the contamination to construction wastewater tied to Meta’s Project Cosmo.
- The Board of Public Utilities shut down the reuse network, drained and disinfected two reclamation plants, and resumed irrigation on June 29 after only minimal residual traces were detected and public health officials were consulted.
- The board permanently revoked the project’s permit to discharge construction wastewater and issued new local rules that curb fill‑and‑flush and closed‑loop commissioning discharges from data‑center builds.
- Meta and its general contractor say they stopped discharging, began hauling wastewater offsite, and commissioned independent tests that reported no detection of the bacterium, though reporting differs on whether Fortis Construction or Goat Systems was the source.
- Health experts say C. gilardii is an environmental, opportunistic pathogen that rarely infects healthy people but can cause severe, drug‑resistant infections in immunocompromised patients and poses inhalation risk when irrigation creates aerosols.