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

Day laborers face hardships in the aftermath of Altadena fire, study reveals – CaloNews.com
A new report shows that many day laborers who worked in debris cleanup and recovery after the January 2025 wildfire in Altadena often worked through

American data centers in just seven states are reportedly using more water than all the cities in California – TechRadar
Data centers in seven states consume 10.4 million acre-feet of water [from TechRadar]

The Great Mayfly Swarms of Lake Erie – National Parks Conservation Association
Summer mayflies along Lake Erie’s coastline may be nasty and annoying, but they share glad tidings about environmental recovery. NPCA played a role. [from National