A letter signed by a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and Representatives from New Mexico and Colorado is urging President Barack Obama to direct federal resources to the Animas River spill cleanup.

Among these resources is a call for a coordinated response to the disaster. The Environmental Protection Agency has been criticized by state and local governments for not providing timely communication on the spill and its impact on the area.

The spill happened after a team working for the EPA accidentally released three million gallons of toxic water from an abandoned mine near Silverton, Colo. into a nearby creek. The sickly orange plume traveled down the creek to the Animas River, eventually reaching New Mexico and then Utah.

The letter asks for help in addressing the lack of potable water in some affected areas in the short-term.

“The federal government needs to work with state, tribal, and local governments to provide and pay for supplemental water as needed for both drinking water supplies and agricultural operations,” the letter states.

It also ask for help on more long-term issues in the area.

“In the long-term, while we understand that the EPA is starting to move forward with a claims reimbursement process, we need to ensure that this process is comprehensive and includes sufficient resources to cover all costs incurred by states, counties, tribes, and local municipalities, as well as local businesses and agricultural producers,” the letter says.

U.S. Senators Tom Udall, D-N.M., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., signed onto the letter along with U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Scott Tipton, R-Colo.

The letter comes on the same day the EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy visited the Four Corners area and the Animas River.