Wyoming tightens wastewater rules after Meta datacenter contractor flushed contaminated water

Source: The Guardian

Wed 8 Jul 2026 10.08 EDT
Last modified on Wed 8 Jul 2026 15.31 EDT


Officials in Wyoming said a contractor for Mark Zuckerberg’s tech company, Meta, flushed bacteria-contaminated water into public sewers during construction of a controversial new AI datacenter. The incident prompted water authorities in Cheyenne to implement strict safety regulations on how wastewater from such projects is disposed of, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, which first reported the incident.

Meta has ordered its general contractor, Fortis, to cooperate with the Cheyenne board of public utilities (BOPU) to ensure there is no repeat, the newspaper said, insisting it wanted to be “a good neighbor”.

The company, however, noted that contamination by the rare but naturally occurring Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium did not affect drinking water supplies, and that its contractor’s own water testing by an independent environmental specialist found no trace of it.

The incident comes amid growing nationwide backlash to the construction of resource-hungry datacenters, which opponents say place unbearable demands on local water and energy supplies. According to Data Center Map, the US has almost 4,500 datacenters, some consuming up to 300,000 gallons of water each day, equivalent to the demands of about 1,000 households.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/08/meta-datacenter-ai-wyoming-water