Meta and a Wyoming utility board are now in a compliance dispute tied to a large data center under construction. Cheyenne’s Board of Public Utilities traced contamination in the city’s recycled water irrigation system to Meta contractor Goat Systems LLC working on a 715,000-square-foot data center campus. The bacterium identified, Cupriavidus gilardii, was not reported in drinking water but triggered remediation steps and policy changes affecting reclaimed water use. The board suspended the city’s reclaimed water irrigation program, terminated Meta’s discharge privileges, and later said it would not accept certain industrial wastewater discharges, including fill-and-flush operations and closed-loop cooling systems commonly used in data centers. The incident was classified as a significant non-compliance with federal pretreatment regulations. Meta said it is supporting Fortis, its general contractor, and that Fortis testing found no traces of the bacterium in independent sampling, while the utility prepared additional public details. For universities and research institutions, the practical implications are operational: as campuses and partners expand AI and data infrastructure, regulators may require tighter controls around wastewater discharge, monitoring protocols, and contingency planning. The story also highlights how data-center construction can intersect with utility governance and community risk management.