Even with state aid, Clancy may struggle to afford clean drinking water

Infrastructure funding under consideration by the Montana Legislature could give an $875,000 boost to a long-running effort to replace contaminated wells in Clancy with a community water system — but still may not be enough to make the $2.9 million project viable.

Residents of the unincorporated community, which got its start as a mining town in the late 1800s, are in some cases still relying on original, shallow wells dug by hand, said Jefferson County Sanitarian Megan Bullock. That, paired with the town’s small lots and gravelly soil means septic fields and wells haven’t always ended up far enough from each other to keep wastewater from mingling with the supply residents use for drinking and cooking.

“We have too many septic systems packed in there,” she said.