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

California’s push to limit groundwater pumping could leave small farmers in the dust – Los Angeles Times
According to a new report, California groundwater regulations threaten to put many small farms out of business. [from Los Angeles Times]

A simple idea to bring clean drinking water to U.S. homes at a lower cost – Sustainability Accelerator
[from Sustainability Accelerator]

New federal law could bring running water to tribal homes, but states have concerns – NPR
More than 10,000 homes on Southwestern Indian reservations lack running water. This despite tribes substantial water rights. A new solution is being held up as