Overview
- Officials said Monday that testing traced the rare multidrug-resistant bacterium Cupriavidus gilardii to wastewater discharged by Goat Systems, a contractor on Meta’s Cheyenne data center site.
- Two municipal water reclamation plants were taken offline for decontamination in February and were cleared to resume operations in late June after a multi-month cleanup.
- The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities revoked Goat Systems' discharge privileges in March and has barred all fill-and-flush or closed-loop data-center industrial discharges going forward.
- City officials stress the bacterium was found in reclaimed irrigation water used for parks and golf courses, not in the drinking supply, and no human infections have been linked to the incident so far.
- The episode highlights gaps in how municipal systems handle data-center commissioning wastewater and could prompt tighter local permitting, hauling requirements, and broader policy changes.