That scummy stuff anyone can see on the rocks of Hubble Creek comes, in part, from the subdivisions of Fruitland, said Jonell McNeely, who just retired from the Cape Girardeau County Health Department.

Everything in the Fruitland area flows into Hubble Creek, which flows on through Jackson and Gordonville.

Since the Fruitland area has no unified sewage system, residents and businesses depend on septic tanks, sewage lagoons and some subdivision package plants.

A properly maintained septic tank in a sparsely populated area is often the best way to handle household sewage, McNeely said. But when areas get as densely populated as Fruitland and Pocahontas are, the ground can't handle all the discharge, she said.

McNeely expects it to get much worse. Developers plan about 1,400 new homes for the Fruitland area, and that should more than double its population. With no unified way of disposing of sewage, that could mean a big increase in the number of septic tanks and sewage lagoons.

But Maybe not: Last month, six residents of the area handed in a petition to the Cape Girardeau County Commission asking for an election to create a sewer district covering the Fruitland and Pocahontas areas. McNeely is working with them.

As prescribed by state law, the Commission sent the petition to the Circuit Court. The court could schedule an election in November to decide whether to establish the district.

The district would raise money from grants, loans and user fees, but levy no taxes, said 1st District Commissioner Larry Bock.

Janice Sauerbrunn signed the petition. The 25-year Fruitland resident said she doesn't have problems with her septic tank, but she has neighbors who do. Sauerbrunn said she has neighbors whose septic tanks are failing. A sewer district would save them the expense of putting in new tanks.

The area that may have the worst problems is Whispering Heights subdivision in Fruitland. A motorist driving through it can see where the laterals of some of the residents' septic tanks are by the lines of thick vegetation.

A thick green film covers the subdivision's pond. McNeely said the algae and duckweed on the surface grow thick from the nutrients that run into the pond from the saturated surrounding soil.

Sandra Crews lives in Whispering Heights. Her front yard slopes toward the road, and sometimes discharge from the laterals of her septic tank rises to the surface, Crews said. "Sometimes it's really black, and sometimes it's a green scum."

She said a repairman told her she needs more laterals on her septic tank, but she would rather be part of a sewer district. Crews said she fears the cost and "the heartache of having our yard torn up."

Crews said she is tired of dealing with her septic tank. "I much rather it would be someone else's problem," she said. "I'm 100 percent for" the new sewer district.

Other subdivisions have sewage lagoons and package plants. McNeely said that managing them is tricky and developers don't always have the expertise to manage them properly.

A professionally run sewer district could pipe all the sewage in a line parallel to Hubble Creek and hook up with Jackson's sewage treatment plant, McNeely said.

A similar proposal lost at an election in 1992.

Martha Vandivort of the League of Women Voters, which is working to pass it this time, said circumstances are different now. "The problems now are more obvious," she said.