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

How more than 240 million gallons of sewage flowed into the Potomac River – NPR
NPR's Erika Ryan reports from the site of one of the nation's largest sewage spills ever — just outside of Washington, D.C. — in January.

Nearly half of L.A. County’s pavement may be unnecessary, new map finds – Los Angeles Times
Researchers have released the first parcel-level analysis to map all paved surfaces across L.A. County. In particular, large parking lots are ripe for change, they