As the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) expands worldwide, companies are scrambling to construct data centers to keep up with soaring demand for services. Much has been reported about how these data centers use significant quantities of water for cooling, but a recent incident in Wyoming has highlighted a new concern for local water supplies.
In the City of Cheyenne near the border with Colorado, a rare bacterium called Cupriavidus gilardii was detected in the City’s reclaimed water system in February after wastewater from the construction and commissioning of a Meta AI data center entered the city’s wastewater network. The finding resulted in a temporary shutdown of parts of the system while officials carried out remediation work.
Cupriavidus gilardii is an environmental bacterium found in soil and water, and reported infections are rare. When infections do occur, they have generally involved people with significant underlying health conditions or compromised immune systems. Like many environmental bacteria, some strains can be resistant to multiple antibiotics if people are infected, meaning finding effective treatments can be challenging.
The incident occurred during “fill-and-flush” operations, a process used to clean and prepare large cooling systems before they become operational. Officials were keen to stress that the bacterium was never found in drinking water, only water used for irrigation and other non-potable purposes. But despite this, there was concern that residents could be exposed to the bacteria through inhaling aerosolized droplets where the water was used, for example in parks and golf courses.
The incident in Wyoming appears to be the first publicly reported case of an AI data center project being linked to a microbial contamination event. But large-scale cooling infrastructure has been linked to numerous outbreaks of Legionnaire’s disease, transmitted by the bacteria Legionella. When water systems are poorly maintained, Legionella can grow and people can inhale tiny water droplets containing the bacteria. The New York City health department are currently investigating a new outbreak which has sickened 36 people and resulted in 22 hospitalizations so far on the Upper East Side.
The incident does not mean AI data centers are necessarily a new source of infectious disease and the Wyoming case was linked to wastewater generated during the commissioning of a facility, not normal AI operations. But it serves as a reminder that the rapid expansion of AI is reshaping communities in ways that extend beyond electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Residents are increasingly complaining of impact on their health and wellbeing from noise generated by data centers and the incident in Cheyenne may be a warning that public health should be taken into account when locating and running these centers.
