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

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