Color Of Water
Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.
Harshini Ratnayaka
Save the Dunes
Alex Ortiz
Austin Water and Wastewater Commission
Olga Morales Pate
Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated
Andrea León-Grossmann
Vote Solar
Cindy Donis
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Joy Banner
The Descendants Project
Bleu Adams
IndigeHub
Gia Moreno
Hood Community Council
Pita Juarez
Comms Consultant
Kabir Thatte
The Vessel Collective
Tanasia Swift
Billion Oyster Project
Aria Harris
TYLin
Carlos Calderon
West Michigan Environmental Action Council
Alondra Hernandez-Bose
WEAT
Nasim Pica
WSP in the U.S.
Shandin Pete
University of British Columbia
José M. Rodríguez-Flores
California State University, Monterey Bay
Rene Henery
Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno
John Echohawk
Native American Rights Fund
Susana De Anda
Community Water Center
Rachele Lopez
Justice Outside
Marc Oliver Quijano
Jacobs
Alai Reyes-Santos
University of Oregon
Frank Ruiz
The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz
Gabe Vasquez
US Congress
Daniel Cordalis
Native American Rights Fund
Tanner Yess
Groundwork USA
Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Joaquin Esquivel
California State Water Resources Control Board
Jacob Bernal
American Rivers
Sandi Matsumoto
The Nature Conservancy
Ani Jayakaran
Washington State University
Charming Evelyn
OceanWell Water
Crystal Sanders-Alvarado
Seaworthy
Diana Piña Yitbarek
NC Department of Environmental Quality
Vicky Espinoza
CaliWaterAg
Ciara Horne
SBG Digital
Ayako Tischler
Moonshot Missions
Kedar Dabhadkar
Lam Research
Martin Griffin
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Arohi Sharma
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Nataly Escobedo Garcia
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Jazmin Ricks
University of Pennsylvania
Emma Robbins
The Chapter House
Chauncey Foster
we.grow.eco
Alastair Bitsóí
Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President
Jo Banner
The Descendants Project
Newsha Ajami
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Arsum Pathak
National Wildlife Federation
Jaiden Willeto
Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop
Quentin Stubbs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Nathaniel I Kollie
University of California Santa Cruz
Tony Bridges
The Maryland General Assembly
Jasmine Walker
IMPACT Community Action
Walt Walker
TYLin
Sarah Traore
The University of Texas at Austin
maritza mendoza
Empower DC
Lenise Marrero
Brown and Caldwell
Carlos Moran
Northeast Trees
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Analise Rivero
California Trout
Mallika Nocco
University of Wisconsin–Madison
André Sanchez
California Wilderness Coalition
Maria Elena Kennedy
Kennedy Communications, Inc
Xochitl Bervera
Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters
Heather Tanana
University of California, Irvine
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš
Azul
Cyatharine Alias
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Danielle Rivera
University of California Berkeley
Veronica Garibay
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Daniela Sherrill
ASU / AZ Water for All
Sri Vedachalam
Cisolutions
Brenda Coley
Milwaukee Water Commons
Angela Mooney D’Arcy
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples
Pablo Ortiz
Union of Concerned Scientists
Rhysea Agrawal
The Xylom
Pedro Hernandez
GreenLatinos
Angela Guyadeen
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Vinicius Taguchi
North Carolina State University
Shama Perveen
CERES
Jeremy Orr
Earthjustice
Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
NWF/Clean Water for All
Nicole Nelson
Equity Legal Services, Inc
Olga Cano
HUD
Michael Méndez
UC Irvine
Breanna Gonzalez
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Jessica Thrasher
Colorado State University
Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George
Ferris Institute
Briana Muñoz
Pacific Coast Carbon LLC
Elizabeth Ruiz
CA State Water Resources Control Board
Nureen Faiza Anisha
Oregon State University
Nikki Tulley
University of Arizona
Chriscilia Cox
SUMA Consulting LLC
Silvia R. Gonzalez
UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute
Pallavi Bharadwaj
SEG
Priscila Alves
University of Maryland
Sidney Opiyo
University of California, Santa Cruz
Dezaraye Bagalayos
Allensworth Progressive Association
Val Schull
GreenLatinos
Usman Mahmood
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz
Greenroots Institute
Roland Jones
CIS
Rob Larson
Grand Valley State University
Damian Shapes Padilla
Spirit Rock Consulting
Sydney Garcia
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Carolan Sonderegger
For Love of Water
Cate Mingoya-LaFortune
Groundwork USA
Maisah Khan
Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
Cathie Chavez-Morris
Equidad Group
Afia Zakiya
Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation
Rhea Drozdenko
Connecticut River Conservancy
Julian Gonzalez
Earthjustice
Marccus Hendricks
University of Maryland - College Park
Billie Li
Wright-Pierce
Oluwole (OJ) McFoy
Houston Public Works
Monica Driggers
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Ruthie Redmond
UC Berkeley
Nahal G. Ipakchi
BluePoint Planning
Ngodoo Atume
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Parsa Saffarinia
University of California, Davis
Sonali Abraham
Pacific Institute
Tiffany Sevilla
Greenprint Partners
Ehab Meselhe
Tulane University
Cate Caldwell
Illinois Environmental Council
Cheyanne Harris
Brown and Caldwell
Nusrat Molla
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University
Adriana Renteria
State Water Board
Nadine Robertson
Veolia North America
Paula Buchanan
National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School
Bre’Shaun Reddick
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Thea Louis
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Sanjiv Sinha
Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.
Esteban Ortiz
The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge
Charles Cassagnol
Western Ecology, LLC
Cheyenne Holliday
Verde
Sapna Mulki
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Crystal Davis
National Parks Conservation Association
Jessica Dandridge-Smith
The Water Collaborative
Angela M Chalk
Healthy Community Resources Services
Lucero Sanchez
San Diego Coastkeeper
Kimbaya Carriere
Nuxalk First Nation
Felice Green
Milwaukee Water Commons
Keiko Wilkins
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes
GreenLatinos
Alyssa Senturk
California Water Data Consortium
Benu Amun Ra
S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center
Andrian Lee
BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC
Ed Marin
Louisville Water
Fernando Ramirez
Bridges 2023 International
Dira Johanif
Charles River Climate Compact
Nicole Chavas
Greenprint Partners
Bridget Ray
Washington State Department of Commerce
Oday Salim
University of Michigan Law School
Huda Alkaff
Wisconsin Green Muslims
Patricia Lindsay-Harvey
Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority
Khalid Osman
Stanford University
Julia Fay Bernal
Pueblo Action Alliance
Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Ashwin Dhanasekar
Brown and Caldwell
Victor Galvan
Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience
Emily Warren Armitano
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
maritza mendoza
Empower DC
Temiloluwa Akinyemi
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Talia London
The Common Acre
Beth Roach
Sierra Club
Ean Tafoya
GreenLatinos
Allen Townsend
World Wildlife Fund
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
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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!
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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