From a distance, the eastern neighborhood of the Galilee village of Majdal Krum looks pastoral, its relatively new homes sitting along green hills. Yesterday at dusk, a lone horse was even wandering in the fields. To the south, the nearby villas of Karmiel come into view. But as you come closer, you quickly see why residents call it "Sewage Valley."

The greenery flourishes in a bed of sewage, a heavy stench hangs over the air, an army of frogs living in the mire croak. This neighborhood, intended to be a well cared-for part of town and a place for young families, has suffered from this ecological nuisance for years, with no solution in sight.

In the town of al-Shagur, created in 2003 by unifying the administration of the towns of Majdal Krum, Bana and Dir al-Assad, they know the problem well, but say that lack of funding has made it impossible to find a thorough solution.

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The head of the municipal sanitation department, Walid Zgayer, explains that the source of the problem is a leaking sewage main that runs through the neighborhood. According to Zgayer, the pipeline, which serves Bana and Dir al-Assad, was laid in 1990, but is no longer able to carry the amount of sewage from these two communities.

"At that time, the number of residents was no more than 7,000. Now, there are 17,000 residents, and 95 percent of them are connected to this sewage main," he says.

A few minutes' walk around this neighborhood is enough to get stung repeatedly by mosquitoes that rise like a cloud over the area.

According to local resident Shadi Diab, "You have to see it to believe that this is the way a residential neighborhood looks in a city in Israel in 2007."

Standing near his home, Diab points out manhole covers consisting of tin plates and stones, placed there in an effort to stem the invasion of the putrid flow. "This is the only way," he adds. "Some days, when the flow is particularly strong, the road becomes a canal, with chicken carcasses floating through it." Diab also says that because of this situation, he hardly lets his two daughters go out of the house. Some of his neighbors, he says, want to sell their homes because of the filth. "But who will buy homes in a neighborhood like this?" he wonders.

Rula and Madhat Dib live nearby with their 2-year-old daughter, Jana. The couple says that when they built their home here, they thought they could start a new "normal" life. But meanwhile, they are busy mainly trying to keep away from the sewage and the foul odors. "We feel helpless," Madhat says. "All the solutions are like pain-killers and no one has the tools to deal with the situation. It's a catastrophe."

Rula, a teacher of environmental studies, tries to keep Jana away from the polluted water sitting at their doorstep. "I teach environmental studies and can't live in normal surroundings. We are in total desperation. We think 'what a terrible environment our children live in' and look across the road and see how they live in Karmiel. It hurts."

Meanwhile, the municipality is trying to provide temporary solutions to the problem by pumping the sewage and spraying against pests. The city's water and sewage head, Ghasan Assaf, explains that plans exist on paper to build another sewage main and a new pumping station, but for now, there is funding only for the sewage main.

"The building of the sewage main is the first step in a solution," Assaf says. "There is an urgent need for a new pumping station to prevent sewage overflow. This will cost about NIS 10 million. The municipality has to raise this money from its income or from the relevant government ministries," Assaf says.

But in the meantime, the money has not been raised, and the residents continue to live in Sewage Valley.