The contamination of a Cheyenne water system by a Meta data center underscores the worries residents have about more than two-dozen data centers that are and could be consuming Wyoming’s energy, water and landscape. Water officials announced in June that they had traced an unusual and dangerou s bacterium called Cupriavidus gilardii, which can sicken people, to an industrial user first identified by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle as a contractor for a Meta data center. Pinpointing the source of contamination came months after the discovery of the bacterium in late February. The pollution forced the city to stop irrigating sports fields and parks with recycled sanitary sewer system water, drain and disinfect the system and use drinking water for irrigation instead. Although it took months to find the source, Cheyenne eventually “immediately and permanently terminated” discharge privileges, the city utility office said. U.S. Rep Harriet Hageman demanded answers from Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg while the International Business Times howled “Meta’s ‘Good Neighbour’ Image Crumbles.” “These companies are taking advantage of rural communities that don’t have regulations in place for these facilities.”Kathryn Stevens As Wyoming communities grapple with a surge of rural zoning changes to enable construction of data center computer warehouses and offices, the pollution raises questions about developers’ and tech companies’ assurances. Thirteen miles east of Wheatland, a proposed data center on 5,344 acres has “taken my family by surprise,” said Kathryn Stevens, who moved from Washington state to her family’s property several years ago seeking a rural lifestyle. “These companies are taking advantage of rural communities that don’t have regulations in place for these facilities,” she told WyoFile. Developers in Cheyenne, Casper, Evanston and Wheatland tout water-friendly closed-loop cooling systems, on-site power sources, jobs, money and more. But the pollution that snuck up on a city of roughly 66,000 required “significant remediation,” Cheyenne water officials said, and underscores what can go wrong in semi-arid Wyoming. Wyoming’s capital, for example, can’t even slake its own thirst. Cheyenne obtains through diversions and a paper swap half its water from the far side of the Continental Divide — 115 miles away — where the Colorado River Basin itself is troubled and oversubscribed. “Water for irrigation, like that in the reuse system, is a precious resource that cannot be wasted or taken offline,” Hageman wrote Zuckerberg. “I am even more concerned that this contamination seemingly came from your facility’s closed-loop cooling system, a technology that is marketed as being a solution to high data center water consumption rates.” Info slow in coming The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities and the EPA this week declined to comment on the responsibilities each may have for overseeing the sanitary sewer system. The utility said it expects to release more information this week. Meantime an organization called Data Center Map counts 31 completed or planned data centers in four markets in Wyoming, not counting the one recently proposed east of Wheatland. About an hour’s drive south, Microsoft plans to purchase more than 3,000 acres of ranch land owned by the family of Wyoming’s U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis for its data center expansion plans south of Cheyenne. On the other side of the state, Prometheus Hyperscale is working with the town of Evanston and Uinta County to build the company’s flagship data center on a 4,100-acre ranch. “Project Torch” would have up to 1.2 gigawatts of power by the end of 2029, enough electricity to power somewhere between 500,000 and a million homes at any given time, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The latest proposal to rezone 5,344 acres for the Wheatland project drew more than 400 comments when described on the Wheatland News and Events Facebook page. The Site Layer 4 project there is proposed by a New York firm on the Lazy V Six ranch that seeks a change from the ranching/agricultural/mining zone to an industrial classification. The proposal is scheduled for an Aug. 26 hearing before the Platte County Planning and Zoning Commission. Comments such as “We don’t want it,” “Look at the current water crisis,” “Put in NY,” typified some of the opposition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul decreed this week the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers. But some commenters on the Wheatland project see promise; “No one wanted the power plant [but] Wheatland grew tremendously instead of dying off,” one poster said. It would be one thing, Stevens said, if industry was patient, if developers asked a community if it could be ready in a year to accept a zone change application. But the issue “has been jammed down our throats,” Stevens said, “before we can make regulations [or] know what’s safe or what’s not.” The proposed Platte County zone change would “enable the highest and best use of land” and result in $26 billion in investments in Platte County, the application states. The development would accelerate innovation, strengthen cybersecurity, support allies “and counter China,” Site Layer 4 states. Public worries across the state prompted action by Gov. Mark Gordon. In early June he signed the executive order “Data Centers the Wyoming Way” to establish a framework for development. “The order sends a clear message,” the governor said in a statement. “We welcome technological innovation, but it will be done on Wyoming terms.” Candidates weigh in Gubernatorial candidates are weighing in. Republican candidate Brent Bien called for repeal of a 2010 bill he said gave “significant tax cuts” to AI data centers. “Large corporations should not receive tax cuts that are unavailable to small businesses,” he said in WyoFile’s Election Guide 2026. He would oppose new development of AI data centers “particularly on state and agricultural lands through the [State Loan and Investment Board],” he wrote. GOP candidate Eric Barlow said proposals should be decided locally. “The state’s role is to protect water resources from misuse, prevent higher electricity rates, and help communities get truthful information if needed to make decisions,” he wrote. Megan Degenfelder, another Republican candidate for governor, said developers should not build if their projects would increase rates for residents. She called for closed-loop cooling systems, Wyoming workers, workforce education and accommodation by the local community. A data center worker checks operations in Casper. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile) Democrat Kenneth R. Casner and Republican Curt Blake did not answer the survey. Developers liken data centers to contemporary fast-access libraries where somebody can ask a question and readily get an answer. They do much more, however, housing complex computer programs and networks that would be difficult to replicate at a home or even business. Contemporary computer needs — things like word processing, spreadsheets, cellphone videos, photography albums and digital image editing programs — are housed and supported in data centers. Warehouses of networked computers, whose functions are backed up and always available, are the foundation of these modern communication and lifestyle tools available from virtually anywhere. Data centers are where your streaming movies are kept, waiting for you to click “play.” They are “the cloud” that is home to webpages from which you order your new puffy jacket and niece’s birthday gift, where you store the photograph of your granddaughter that you show off at work. The post As data centers flood Wyoming, water pollution fouls good faith appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less