Governador Valadares

"This is now a nationwide market," said federal Detective Cristiano Campidelli, a former chief of the Governador Valadares office who has tracked the illicit trade.

She drove 14 hours from her home in Governador Valadares to the capital, Brasília.

Although the water supply from the river to the city of Governador Valadares has now been restored, around 150,000 people are still reliant on deliveries of drinking water from Samarco.

The president spoke in Governador Valadares, a riverside city some 200 miles from the mining accident that has been without drinking water for days.

"Samarco, to blame for all of this, will have to make a greater effort," Pimentel told reporters in Governador Valadares, a city of 300,000 residents that is now having its water trucked in.