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Meta data center contractor contaminates Cheyenne water supply with rare bacterium

Meta's data center construction in Cheyenne, Wyoming, has led to a suspension of water discharges after a contractor contaminated the city's reclaimed water supply with a rare, metal-resistant bacterium. The bacterium, Cupriavidus gilardii, disrupted water reclamation plants and forced a months-long cleanup. While the city has since resumed accepting some industrial wastewater, the incident has raised concerns about the potential for other chemicals, like glycol, to enter municipal systems not designed to process them, especially as AI data centers increasingly adopt liquid cooling systems. AI

IMPACT Highlights potential environmental risks associated with AI data center expansion and liquid cooling technologies.

RANK_REASON A contractor for Meta contaminated a city's water supply during data center construction, leading to regulatory action and public concern.

Read on Tom's Hardware →

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 2 sources. How we write summaries →

Meta data center contractor contaminates Cheyenne water supply with rare bacterium

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A contractor for Meta contaminated a city's water supply during data center construction, leading to regulatory action and public concern.
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COVERAGE [2]

  1. Tom's Hardware TIER_1 English(EN) · Luke James ·

    Meta data center water discharges suspended after contaminating the city's water supply with bacterium — closed-loop cooling system purge spread rare metal-resistant bacterium in Cheyenne’s water system

    Fill-and-flush is a commissioning step whereby crews fill a cooling loop's piping with water and flush it to clear debris before the system is run.

  2. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] ·

    Meta data center water discharges suspended after contaminating the city's water supply with bacterium — closed-loop cooling system purge spread rare metal-resi

    Meta data center water discharges suspended after contaminating the city's water supply with bacterium — closed-loop cooling system purge spread rare metal-resistant bacterium in… Fill-and-flush is a commissioning step whereby crews fill a cooling loop's piping with water and flu…