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

Day laborers face hardships in the aftermath of Altadena fire, study reveals – CaloNews.com
A new report shows that many day laborers who worked in debris cleanup and recovery after the January 2025 wildfire in Altadena often worked through

American data centers in just seven states are reportedly using more water than all the cities in California – TechRadar
Data centers in seven states consume 10.4 million acre-feet of water [from TechRadar]

The Great Mayfly Swarms of Lake Erie – National Parks Conservation Association
Summer mayflies along Lake Erie’s coastline may be nasty and annoying, but they share glad tidings about environmental recovery. NPCA played a role. [from National