Meta Cheyenne data center, Cheyenne, Wyoming

Meta's data center campus in the High Plains Business Park in Cheyenne, in Laramie County, Wyoming, has not opened yet, and it has already put the city's reclaimed water system out of service for a time. In February 2026 water flushed through the campus's new cooling pipework by Meta's contractor was discharged into the city sewer carrying a rare, metal-resistant bacterium, Cupriavidus gilardii, which routine testing then found in the system.

The Board of Public Utilities suspended the reclaimed water that irrigates parks and golf courses, because of the risk of breathing it in as spray; drinking water was not affected, and some bacteria passed into Crow Creek, where officials judged the risk low. "As soon as we became aware of the bacteria, and then of where it was coming from, we shut them down immediately," said Frank Strong, the board's engineering manager. On March 24 the board revoked the discharge privileges of Goat Systems, Meta's company on the project, and suspended all data center fill-and-flush discharges into the city system. The public was not told where the bacterium came from until July 2. "We understand the frustration and the public wanting to know all this information," said Erin Lamb, the board's administrative and public affairs coordinator, "but we did have to go through a certain process to make sure that everything was done correctly."

City councilman Pete Laybourn called it "a very, very unpleasant surprise," and Mayor Patrick Collins "a disappointment to everyone involved." Meta said its contractor, Fortis, stopped discharging and began hauling the wastewater off site as soon as the board raised it. Follow-up testing found no bacteria left in either treatment plant, and the reclaimed water system is running again. In July, Representative Harriet Hageman wrote to Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers about the discharge.

Meta announced the campus in July 2024 as a 715,000 square foot, $800 million-plus project expected to employ about 100 people once finished.