I guess at this point it is safe say EPA really stands for Environmental Pollution Agency. ABC affiliate KMGH out of Denver states that the Navajo Nation’s clean water capacity is dwindling and the indian tribe is asking for help. Despite the EPA’s claim that their response was slow due to caution, the Navajo Tribe’s President says that people are in desperate need of clean water for his tribal members’ personal and agricultural use.

Because of the polluted water resulting from last week’s toxic waste Gold King Kine spill in the Animas River in Colorado, the tribe has had to import water and the shortage is negatively affecting tourism and organic crop yields. Resorts and boating companies cannot fully run until the river’s water is clear. Colorado health officials, on the other hand, said Tuesday that the contaminants in the Animas River continue to decrease and, to their credit, the EPA says it understands the tribe’s frustration and is deeply apologetic for what happened.

The long term effects of the hazardous materials from this disaster will remain for years according to an interview conducted by CBS News with a toxicologist named Dan Teitelbaum. Despite the river regaining its natural color, he is still concerned about the remaining pollutants that can linger for years. The water is filled with hazardous contaminants such as cadmium, arsenic, beryllium and mercury. Despite the EPA showing live fish in the water the toxicologist says it is not an adequate measure showing the water is safe.

“They’re a problem because they’re long-term poisons. And low levels consumed over a long period of time create serious problems, particularly arsenic, produce very serious problems,” said Teitlebaum.

The worst part about it, CBS also reports, is that rainfall may bring the toxins in the waterbody back to the surface or reactivate them. Despite EPA assurances that the Animas River is going back to normal, nearby residents are, understandably, both concerned and angry. If you want to know how massive of a toll this incident took on the region, CNN published an article that puts the impact of the entire incident in context.

The EPA sought to conduct a mine clean up and made matters worse when the company they contracted for this effort messed up. While spills like this happen in places like the Animas River a lot, it does not excuse the agency’s incompetence from making a potentially bad situation catastrophic. Environmentalists are noticeably silent about the EPA’s actions as opposed to how they loudly condemned with British Petroleum, but have conveniently used the occasion to point out the thousands of abandoned mines around the country.