Color Of Water
Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.
Mallika Nocco
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Pallavi Bharadwaj
SEG
Julia Fay Bernal
Pueblo Action Alliance
Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
NWF/Clean Water for All
Jacob Bernal
American Rivers
Emma Robbins
The Chapter House
Alai Reyes-Santos
University of Oregon
Felice Green
Milwaukee Water Commons
maritza mendoza
Empower DC
Dezaraye Bagalayos
Allensworth Progressive Association
Ciara Horne
SBG Digital
Gia Moreno
Hood Community Council
Sydney Garcia
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Rhea Drozdenko
Connecticut River Conservancy
Carolan Sonderegger
For Love of Water
Jeremy Orr
Earthjustice
Walt Walker
TYLin
Daniela Sherrill
ASU / AZ Water for All
Paula Buchanan
National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School
Adriana Renteria
State Water Board
Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes
GreenLatinos
Maria Elena Kennedy
Kennedy Communications, Inc
André Sanchez
California Wilderness Coalition
Rhysea Agrawal
The Xylom
Charles Cassagnol
Western Ecology, LLC
Thea Louis
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Cindy Donis
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Newsha Ajami
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Ruthie Redmond
UC Berkeley
Ayako Tischler
Moonshot Missions
Rob Larson
Grand Valley State University
Arsum Pathak
National Wildlife Federation
maritza mendoza
Empower DC
Tiffany Sevilla
Greenprint Partners
Gabe Vasquez
US Congress
Joy Banner
The Descendants Project
Naveen Adusumilli
Louisiana State University
Joaquin Esquivel
California State Water Resources Control Board
Jaiden Willeto
Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop
Andrian Lee
BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC
Pedro Hernandez
GreenLatinos
Alastair Bitsóí
Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President
Aria Harris
TYLin
Chauncey Foster
we.grow.eco
Shama Perveen
CERES
Maisah Khan
Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
Vicky Espinoza
CaliWaterAg
Charming Evelyn
OceanWell Water
Sidney Opiyo
University of California, Santa Cruz
Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Patricia Lindsay-Harvey
Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority
Kedar Dabhadkar
Lam Research
Cheyenne Holliday
Verde
Alyssa Senturk
California Water Data Consortium
Tanner Yess
Groundwork USA
Breanna Gonzalez
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Michael Méndez
UC Irvine
Talia London
The Common Acre
Xochitl Bervera
Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters
Rene Henery
Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno
Marccus Hendricks
University of Maryland - College Park
Daniel Cordalis
Native American Rights Fund
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš
Azul
Martin Griffin
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Sanjiv Sinha
Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.
Val Schull
GreenLatinos
Angela Guyadeen
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Brenda Coley
Milwaukee Water Commons
Billie Li
Wright-Pierce
Sandi Matsumoto
The Nature Conservancy
Ani Jayakaran
Washington State University
Nataly Escobedo Garcia
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Fernando Ramirez
Bridges 2023 International
Danielle Rivera
University of California Berkeley
Chriscilia Cox
SUMA Consulting LLC
Cathie Chavez-Morris
Equidad Group
Nusrat Molla
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University
Analise Rivero
California Trout
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Cyatharine Alias
Center for Neighborhood Technology
John Echohawk
Native American Rights Fund
Briana Muñoz
Pacific Coast Carbon LLC
Vinicius Taguchi
North Carolina State University
Cate Mingoya-LaFortune
Groundwork USA
Emily Warren Armitano
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Marc Oliver Quijano
Jacobs
Nathaniel I Kollie
University of California Santa Cruz
Beth Roach
Sierra Club
Kimbaya Carriere
Nuxalk First Nation
Elizabeth Ruiz
CA State Water Resources Control Board
Alondra Hernandez-Bose
WEAT
Oluwole (OJ) McFoy
Houston Public Works
Kabir Thatte
The Vessel Collective
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Keiko Wilkins
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Khalid Osman
Stanford University
Quentin Stubbs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Ed Marin
Louisville Water
Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz
Greenroots Institute
Alex Ortiz
Austin Water and Wastewater Commission
Nicole Chavas
Greenprint Partners
Lucero Sanchez
San Diego Coastkeeper
Arohi Sharma
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Bleu Adams
IndigeHub
Tanasia Swift
Billion Oyster Project
Temiloluwa Akinyemi
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Damian Shapes Padilla
Spirit Rock Consulting
Sri Vedachalam
Cisolutions
Sonali Abraham
Pacific Institute
Frank Ruiz
The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz
Angela M Chalk
Healthy Community Resources Services
Angela Mooney D’Arcy
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples
Olga Cano
HUD
Crystal Davis
National Parks Conservation Association
Rachele Lopez
Justice Outside
Pablo Ortiz
Union of Concerned Scientists
Usman Mahmood
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Crystal Sanders-Alvarado
Seaworthy
Sapna Mulki
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Roland Jones
CIS
Pita Juarez
Comms Consultant
Priscila Alves
University of Maryland
Oday Salim
University of Michigan Law School
Huda Alkaff
Wisconsin Green Muslims
Ngodoo Atume
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Lenise Marrero
Brown and Caldwell
Jo Banner
The Descendants Project
Heather Tanana
University of California, Irvine
Susana De Anda
Community Water Center
Carlos Moran
Northeast Trees
Andrea León-Grossmann
Vote Solar
José M. Rodríguez-Flores
California State University, Monterey Bay
Ean Tafoya
GreenLatinos
Tony Bridges
The Maryland General Assembly
Silvia R. Gonzalez
UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute
Nureen Faiza Anisha
Oregon State University
Ashwin Dhanasekar
Brown and Caldwell
Nikki Tulley
University of Arizona
Ehab Meselhe
Tulane University
Dira Johanif
Charles River Climate Compact
Jasmine Walker
IMPACT Community Action
Nahal G. Ipakchi
BluePoint Planning
Victor Galvan
Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience
Afia Zakiya
Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation
Nasim Pica
WSP in the U.S.
Carlos Calderon
West Michigan Environmental Action Council
Veronica Garibay
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Nicole Nelson
Equity Legal Services, Inc
Sarah Traore
The University of Texas at Austin
Esteban Ortiz
The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge
Diana Piña Yitbarek
NC Department of Environmental Quality
Bre’Shaun Reddick
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Jazmin Ricks
University of Pennsylvania
Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Harshini Ratnayaka
Save the Dunes
Monica Driggers
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Jessica Dandridge-Smith
The Water Collaborative
Shandin Pete
University of British Columbia
Parsa Saffarinia
University of California, Davis
Cheyanne Harris
Brown and Caldwell
Julian Gonzalez
Earthjustice
Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George
Ferris Institute
Benu Amun Ra
S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center
Cate Caldwell
Illinois Environmental Council
Jessica Thrasher
Colorado State University
Nadine Robertson
Veolia North America
Allen Townsend
World Wildlife Fund
Olga Morales Pate
Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated
Bridget Ray
Washington State Department of Commerce
Alexis Roig
United Nations University
trending topics
These are the top topics that reporters, decision makers, and partners are looking for experts to speak about.
Video Library
Watch water experts share their stories and perspectives with reporters, event audiences, podcast hosts, and more.
About Us
The Color of Water Initiative was created by the Water Hub to build voice and visibility for people of color in the water movement. Our goal is to connect reporters with a more diverse set of experts, and build capacity for these experts to elevate the stories of their communities, which have often been left out of conversations around water.
From water access and drought response in the West to lead pipes and PFAS pollution in the Great Lakes to recurring flooding and water infrastructure failures in the South, Color of Water members have deep expertise and first-hand experience on water challenges and solutions all across the country.
Read the joint statement by Color of Water members on the importance of equity in the water world.
experts across the country
Register to Join our Expert Directory
If you identify as a person of color with expertise in water (including lived experience or ancestral knowledge) or work in fields that intersect with water (like health, farming, housing, planning, etc.) please submit your information to us!
Are you a current member?
Can’t access your email? Get in touch with us!
Are you a journalist?
Download the directory and opt-in to get pitches featuring Color of Water stories.
What are Color of Water members talking about?
VOICES: Why Michigan’s data center fight is really about who gets to decide – Planet Detroit
Data centers are being developed in Michigan, but local concerns about environmental impacts and community effects are being overlooked. [from Planet Detroit]

2.9 billion gallons of clean drinking water added to California’s supply with new investments | Governor of California
[from Governor of California]

Will adding more lanes fix I-270 congestion? CDOT’s favored fix will test its new mission, opponents say. – The Colorado Sun
CDOT wants to widen I-270 to speed traffic and heighten safety, but clean transportation advocates say the old solutions are no longer relevant. [from The