The head of the sewer and water company was back at it Thursday trying to convince a legislative committee that they should let his organization accept a $127 million low-interest loan from Japan.

The man, Ricardo Sancho, executive president of the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillado, has been trying to get legislative approval for months. Japan already extended once the deadline for Costa Rica to agree to accept the money.

Sancho was a bit more graphic in his presentation before the Comisión Especial de Ambiente as he referred to the populated area of the central Valley as a big septic tank. He said that half the sewage of San José and the neighboring cantons is discharged into the streets, gutters and right into the cities.

There is no treatment for sewage here, and the pipes eventually end in a stream that carries the aguas negras, as it is called in Spanish into the Río Tarcoles and then the Gulf of Nicoya.

He said new sewers and a treatment facility would be a boon to the environment and human health.

The government has to put up $100 million of the amount needed, and legislative deputies have been foot-dragging.  The loan approval has been placed on the special agenda that the executive branch provides lawmakers during this period when the president controls what may be discussed. The Japanese are expected to lose their patience by Aug. 31.

Sancho said the project has been 20 years in the planning and that by 2013 some 65 percent of the population would be on the new sewers. By 2025 some 85 percent would be covered.

The loan terms are for an interest rate of 1.2 percent with seven years grace on starting repayment. The loan term is 25 years.