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

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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.

Pollutants released into water across the US

In Wyoming, Meta was recently forced to halt water dischargesfrom the construction site of its enormous 960-acre Cheyenne campus after a resistant bacterium - Cupriavidus gilardii - was found within a...

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