Overflowing septic tank and inaction create health risk at Patricio Escobar school

A critical sanitary crisis is unfolding at Patricio Escobar school in the San Pablo neighborhood, where a completely overflowing septic tank has rendered the bathrooms unusable for over three weeks. This situation has forced parents to withdraw their children after lunch to protect them from potential infectious agents, as the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC) has failed to provide a timely response.

The unusable facilities affect hundreds of students from first to third grade, who previously shared a block of five stalls now completely out of service. To cope with the emergency, students are temporarily relocated to the single available bathroom for upper grades, leading to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, especially during recess.

In response to the institutional inaction, the school's administration and the School Cooperation Association (ACE) initiated a collection of 25,000 guaranis per family to hire an emergency pumping service. Although 1,200 liters of waste were removed, this provided only a short-term palliative, as the septic tank's structure has definitively exceeded its lifespan.

Mirna Genes, the school's director, stated that the septic tank is beyond repair and that pumping it would last at most two weeks. She confirmed that a formal request was sent to the Ministry's infrastructure department, but only a receipt of the document was received. Genes emphasized that the situation is not just urgent but emergent, highlighting the need for immediate intervention. The construction of a new septic tank and the complete replacement of obsolete piping are estimated to cost between 5 and 10 million guaranis, a sum considered unattainable for a community facing economic vulnerability and state neglect.