Color Of Water

Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.

Val Schull

GreenLatinos

Brenda Coley

Milwaukee Water Commons

Thea Louis

MSC Industrial Supply Co.

Arsum Pathak

National Wildlife Federation

Ehab Meselhe

Tulane University

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Sarah Traore

The University of Texas at Austin

Cate Caldwell

Illinois Environmental Council

Pedro Hernandez

GreenLatinos

Temiloluwa Akinyemi

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Rene Henery

Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno

Olga Cano

HUD

Bre’Shaun Reddick

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Joaquin Esquivel

California State Water Resources Control Board

Maria Elena Kennedy

Kennedy Communications, Inc

Xochitl Bervera

Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters

Nataly Escobedo Garcia

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George

Ferris Institute

Sonali Abraham

Pacific Institute

Emma Robbins

The Chapter House

Nieves Vazquez

Water For People

Nicole Chavas

Greenprint Partners

Carlos Calderon

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Nasim Pica

WSP in the U.S.

Alastair Bitsóí

Near the Water Media & Communications Group

Nusrat Molla

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University

Lucero Sanchez

San Diego Coastkeeper

Huda Alkaff

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Charming Evelyn

OceanWell Water

Jacob Bernal

American Rivers

Frank Ruiz

The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz

Alondra Hernandez-Bose

WEAT

Jo Banner

The Descendants Project

Portia Shepherd

Blackbelt Women Rising

Julian Gonzalez

Earthjustice

Charles Cassagnol

Western Ecology, LLC

Angela M Chalk

Healthy Community Resources Services

Rob Larson

Grand Valley State University

Tanner Yess

Groundwork USA

Tiffany Sevilla

Greenprint Partners

Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

Nadine Robertson

Veolia North America

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš

Azul

Ed Marin

Louisville Water

Silvia R. Gonzalez

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

Angela Mooney D’Arcy

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Jessica Dandridge-Smith

The Water Collaborative

José M. Rodríguez-Flores

California State University, Monterey Bay

Sandi Matsumoto

The Nature Conservancy

Dira Johanif

Charles River Climate Compact

Cheyanne Harris

Brown and Caldwell

Sri Vedachalam

Cisolutions

Jeremy Orr

Earthjustice

Ciara Horne

SBG Digital

Rachele Lopez

Justice Outside

André Sanchez

California Wilderness Coalition

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Joy Banner

The Descendants Project

Ean Tafoya

GreenLatinos

Cheyenne Holliday

Verde

Jessica Thrasher

Colorado State University

Tony Bridges

The Maryland General Assembly

Oluwole (OJ) McFoy

Houston Public Works

Marccus Hendricks

University of Maryland - College Park

Veronica Garibay

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Bleu Adams

IndigeHub

Pablo Ortiz

Union of Concerned Scientists

Fernando Ramirez

Bridges 2023 International

Cathie Chavez-Morris

Equidad Group

Cyatharine Alias

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Sanjiv Sinha

Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.

Nathaniel I Kollie

University of California Santa Cruz

Kedar Dabhadkar

Lam Research

Angela Guyadeen

NRDC

Keiko Wilkins

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Rhea Drozdenko

Connecticut River Conservancy

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune

Groundwork USA

Ruthie Redmond

UC Berkeley

Daniela Sherrill

ASU / AZ Water for All

Mahtaab Bagherzadeh

NWF/Clean Water for All

Newsha Ajami

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

Nikki Tulley

University of Arizona

Ani Jayakaran

Washington State University

Victor Galvan

Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience

Daniel Cordalis

Native American Rights Fund

Khalid Osman

Stanford University

Vicky Espinoza

CaliWaterAg

Harshini Ratnayaka

Save the Dunes

Aria Harris

TYLin

Danielle Rivera

University of California Berkeley

Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz

Greenroots Institute

Guadalupe Fernandez

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Usman Mahmood

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Priscila Alves

University of Maryland

Sidney Opiyo

University of California, Santa Cruz

Andrea León-Grossmann

Vote Solar

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Nureen Faiza Anisha

Oregon State University

Vinicius Taguchi

North Carolina State University

Ashwin Dhanasekar

Brown and Caldwell

Michael Méndez

UC Irvine

Moisés Moreno-Rivera

Trust for Public Land

Allen Townsend

World Wildlife Fund

Bridget Ray

Washington State Department of Commerce

Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

GreenLatinos

Kabir Thatte

The Vessel Collective

Alai Reyes-Santos

Alaí Community Consulting

Jasmine Walker

Ohio Environmental Council

Monica Driggers

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

Quentin Stubbs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Chauncey Foster

we.grow.eco

Cindy Donis

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Crystal Davis

National Parks Conservation Association

Jaiden Willeto

Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop

Analise Rivero

California Trout

Felice Green

Milwaukee Water Commons

Parsa Saffarinia

University of California, Davis

Roland Jones

CIS

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey

Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Pita Juarez

Comms Consultant

Elizabeth Ruiz

CA State Water Resources Control Board

Pallavi Bharadwaj

SEG

Briana Muñoz

Pacific Coast Carbon LLC

Crystal Sanders-Alvarado

Seaworthy

Arohi Sharma

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Carolan Sonderegger

For Love of Water

Mallika Nocco

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Dezaraye Bagalayos

Allensworth Progressive Association

Oday Salim

University of Michigan Law School

Tanasia Swift

Billion Oyster Project

Billie Li

Wright-Pierce

Breanna Gonzalez

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Maritza Mendoza

Empower DC

Andrian Lee

BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC

Martin Griffin

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Carlos Moran

Northeast Trees

Beth Roach

Sierra Club

Nicole Nelson

Equity Legal Services, Inc

Susana De Anda

Community Water Center

John Echohawk

Native American Rights Fund

Gia Moreno

Hood Community Council

Nahal G. Ipakchi

BluePoint Planning

Ngodoo Atume

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Alex Ortiz

Austin Water and Wastewater Commission

Diana Piña Yitbarek

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Shama Perveen

Ceres

Julia Fay Bernal

Pueblo Action Alliance

Emily Warren Armitano

Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Direlle Calica

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

Chriscilia Cox

SUMA Consulting LLC

Damian Shapes Padilla

Spirit Rock Consulting

Rhysea Agrawal

The Xylom

Benu Amun Ra

S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center

Shandin Pete

University of British Columbia

Esteban Ortiz

The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Jazmin Ricks

University of Pennsylvania

Walt Walker

TYLin

Sydney Garcia

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Marc Oliver Quijano

Jacobs

Maisah Khan

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Ayako Tischler

Xylem

Paula Buchanan

National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School

Talia London

The Common Acre

Sapna Mulki

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Adriana Renteria

State Water Board

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Olga Morales

Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated

Heather Tanana

University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Lenise Marrero

Brown and Caldwell

Afia Zakiya

Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation

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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.

explore the Color of Water directory

experts across the country

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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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