Rare bacteria, heavy metals, and toxic pollutants are leaking from data centers across the United States breaking treatment facilities and poisoning rivers

Date:
Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:25:00 +0000

Description:
Water contamination is becoming a big problem for AI data centers, but regulators simply do not have enough information to act

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter 3 points Data centers across
the United States have been criticized for harming local environments
sourcing power - sometimes illegally - from gas burning turbines that can release harmful pollutants into the air surrounding local communities.

But dozens of data centers have been accused of releasing harmful chemicals, heavy metals, and rare bacteria with the wastewater they release into nearby treatment facilities and waterways. Violations have been logged for data centers in Wyoming, Virginia, New York, and Georgia, but the problem likely extends far across the rest of the US. Information on water usage and discharge for many data centers is hard to come by - or is being actively blocked. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Pollutants released into water across the US In Wyoming, Meta was recently forced to
halt water discharges from the construction site of its enormous 960-acre Cheyenne campus after a resistant bacterium - Cupriavidus gilardii - was
found within a local water treatment facility.

The bacterium was identified after regulators tested a sample of the 801,000 gallons Meta had discharged into Cheyennes sewers. Following concerns that local residents could inhale droplets of the contaminated water if it was
used for irrigation, local officials decided to stop accepting wastewater
from the construction site. You may like Many new AI data centers will be built on US drought-hit areas American data centers in just seven states are reportedly using more water than all the cities in California Google says how it will solve the AI data center water problem by 2030

Two water treatment facilities were forced offline as part of a multi-month decontamination and cleanup operation. Metas contractor responsible for the site, Goat Systems, is appealing the decision of officials to stop accepting wastewater from the site.

Multiple data centers across Virginia are facing enforcement actions from local authorities for violating wastewater and wetland regulations. In one such case, a data center under construction in West Virginia has funneled stormwater runoff into a local residential area, causing flooding on two occasions. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the
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A data center near Lake Seneca, New York, is facing criticism from the Seneca Lake Guardian organization. The site was previously a cryptocurrency mining data center, but has been transitioning towards handling AI workloads
instead. Seneca Lake Guardian has said that wastewater from the site flows directly into Lake Seneca at temperatures of up to 108F (42C), which can harm fish living in the lake and cause blooms of toxic algae.

The company behind the data center, Vulcan Infrastructure and Power, says it complies with all relevant environmental laws.

Multiple new data centers in Georgia have been approved to draw water from
the Chattahoochee river, but local environmental guardians, such as water policy director at Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Chris Manganiello, are being blindsided by a complete lack of information on how much water will be taken from the river, and what will be put back in. What to read next Five ways
data centers can save water Meta data center identified as source of city's water reclamation contamination Are we going to let data centers take all the power, water, and clean air?

We need to know what is in this wastewater but there is a void of
information, Mangeniello told The Guardian . I would like there to not be
more Pfas [forever chemicals] going into the river but there is this level of anxiety because we dont know whats there. Dont throw the Pfas out with the cooling water Data centers pump water through miles of pipes crisscrossing their hardware in order to draw away excess heat. While there have been moves towards closed-loop cooling technology - where the water used is recycled within the system - there are still valid environmental concerns associated with these systems.

Before using a closed-loop system, the pipes need to be flushed through with water to wash away any debris or contaminants that were deposited within the pipes during assembly. This water is then released back into sewers to be cleaned by local treatment plants.

But many water treatment plants simply arent built to handle filtering water that contains industrial contaminants. These contaminants can include heavy metals or Pfas that can cause health problems in humans and animals.

Data centers are also being built in drought-hit regions , largely because the land is cheap, placing additional strain on already struggling water tables. Data centers can use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per
day to stay operational, and while closed-loop systems ensure this water is only taken out of the cycle once, it is still a significant sum of water to remove from regions experiencing droughts. Follow TechRadar on Google News
and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/rare-bacteria-heavy-metals-and-toxic-pollutants- are-leaking-from-data-centers-across-the-united-states-breaking-treatment-faci lities-and-poisoning-rivers


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