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