Cheyenne officials say a Meta data center's cooling system contaminated recycled water with a rare Legionella strain. The non-potable supply was suspended. No drinking water or illness reports.
Alpha Score of 60 reflects moderate overall profile with poor momentum, strong value, strong quality, moderate sentiment.
City officials in Cheyenne, Wyoming, said a nearby Meta data center campus contaminated part of the city's water recycling irrigation system with a rare bacterium.
The bacterium was found in the recycled water the city sends to the data center campus for cooling. The Meta site, under construction just south of Cheyenne, is massive – the company plans to build at least four buildings totaling over 4.3 million square feet, with completion expected in phases through 2028.
City officials said the contamination was discovered during routine monitoring. They traced the source to the data center campus's own cooling infrastructure, not the city's wider water recycling network. The detection prompted Cheyenne to suspend the treated wastewater supply to the data center site while investigations continue.
A spokesperson for Meta said the company is cooperating with the city's inquiry. The finding does not threaten Cheyenne's drinking water supply, officials said, because the bacterium was isolated to the non-potable recycled water system used for industrial cooling.
The rare bacterium, a strain of Legionella, can cause Legionnaires' disease when aerosolized and inhaled. Data center cooling towers produce mist by design, the exact mechanism for aerosol transmission. City officials said they have not received reports of illness connected to the site.
Cheyenne's Board of Public Utilities, which operates the water system, is working with state health officials and the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the extent of the contamination. The timeline for resuming water service to the data center remains unclear.
The city had previously contracted to supply recycled water to Meta's data center as part of an economic development package. Cheyenne's water recycling system treats wastewater before piping it to industrial users, reducing demand on the city's freshwater supply. The system had operated without similar contamination events, officials said.
A city council member said the incident highlights the gap between data center energy and water demands and the municipal infrastructure supporting them. Meta's Cheyenne campus is one of several large data center projects across Wyoming, drawn by the state's favorable tax environment and available land.
META stock closed up 9.89% on the session at $615.57, largely driven by broader market gains in the Communication Services sector. The company carries an Alpha Score of 60 out of 100, a Moderate rating.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.