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