Color Of Water
Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.
Carlos Calderon
West Michigan Environmental Action Council
Billie Li
Wright-Pierce
Roland Jones
CIS
Maria Elena Kennedy
Kennedy Communications, Inc
Shama Perveen
Ceres
Angela M Chalk
Healthy Community Resources Services
Emma Robbins
The Chapter House
Joy Banner
The Descendants Project
Kimbaya Carriere
Nuxalk First Nation
Patricia Lindsay-Harvey
Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority
José M. Rodríguez-Flores
California State University, Monterey Bay
Pallavi Bharadwaj
SEG
Hayat Rasul
LA County
Usman Mahmood
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Heather Tanana
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Dira Johanif
Charles River Climate Compact
Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes
GreenLatinos
Carlos Moran
Northeast Trees
Ashwin Dhanasekar
Brown and Caldwell
Lucero Sanchez
San Diego Coastkeeper
Paula Buchanan
National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School
Pita Juarez
Comms Consultant
Ngodoo Atume
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Bre’Shaun Reddick
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Ciara Horne
SBG Digital
Monica Driggers
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Emily Warren Armitano
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Nicole Chavas
Greenprint Partners
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš
Azul
Sidney Opiyo
University of California, Santa Cruz
Arsum Pathak
National Wildlife Federation
Julia Fay Bernal
Pueblo Action Alliance
Joaquin Esquivel
California State Water Resources Control Board
Harshini Ratnayaka
Save the Dunes
Damian Shapes Padilla
Spirit Rock Consulting
Rhea Drozdenko
Connecticut River Conservancy
Cheyanne Harris
Brown and Caldwell
Sarah Traore
The University of Texas at Austin
Gia Moreno
Hood Community Council
Maritza Mendoza
Empower DC
Chriscilia Cox
SUMA Consulting LLC
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Marc Oliver Quijano
Jacobs
Nathaniel I Kollie
University of California Santa Cruz
Benu Amun Ra
S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center
Felice Green
Milwaukee Water Commons
Cheyenne Holliday
Verde
Julian Gonzalez
Earthjustice
Priscila Alves
University of Maryland
Nikki Tulley
University of Arizona
Diana Piña Yitbarek
NC Department of Environmental Quality
Charming Evelyn
OceanWell Water
Sri Vedachalam
Cisolutions
Rachele Lopez
Justice Outside
Oluwole (OJ) McFoy
Houston Public Works
Andrea León-Grossmann
Talia London
The Common Acre
Analise Rivero
California Trout
Vicky Espinoza
CaliWaterAg
Pedro Hernandez
GreenLatinos
Alastair Bitsóí
Near the Water Media & Communications Group
Quentin Stubbs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Ehab Meselhe
Tulane University
Huda Alkaff
Wisconsin Green Muslims
Keiko Wilkins
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Marccus Hendricks
University of Maryland - College Park
John Echohawk
Native American Rights Fund
Tiffany Sevilla
Greenprint Partners
Walt Walker
TYLin
Mallika Nocco
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Cindy Donis
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Kabir Thatte
The Vessel Collective
Jaiden Willeto
Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop
Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Nasim Pica
WSP in the U.S.
Aria Harris
TYLin
Ed Marin
Louisville Water
Sanjiv Sinha
Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.
Briana Muñoz
Pacific Coast Carbon LLC
Jacob Bernal
American Rivers
Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George
Ferris Institute
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Thea Louis
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Angela Guyadeen
NRDC
Charles Cassagnol
Western Ecology, LLC
Kimbaya Carriere
Nuxalk First Nation
Jo Banner
The Descendants Project
Rene Henery
Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno
Cyatharine Alias
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Chauncey Foster
we.grow.eco
Lenise Marrero
Brown and Caldwell
André Sanchez
California Wilderness Coalition
Silvia R. Gonzalez
UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute
Susana De Anda
Community Water Center
Nieves Vazquez
Water For People
Nusrat Molla
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University
Veronica Garibay
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Beth Roach
Sierra Club
Nataly Escobedo Garcia
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Rhysea Agrawal
The Xylom
Angela Mooney D’Arcy
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples
Pablo Ortiz
Union of Concerned Scientists
Fernando Ramirez
Bridges 2023 International
Esteban Ortiz
The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge
Tanasia Swift
Billion Oyster Project
Newsha Ajami
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Alondra Hernandez-Bose
WEAT
Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz
Greenroots Institute
Jasmine Walker
Ohio Environmental Council
Xochitl Bervera
Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters
Cate Caldwell
Illinois Environmental Council
Temiloluwa Akinyemi
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Sandi Matsumoto
The Nature Conservancy
Shandin Pete
University of British Columbia
Nicole Nelson
Equity Legal Services, Inc
Frank Ruiz
The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz
Khalid Osman
Stanford University
Alex Ortiz
Austin Water and Wastewater Commission
Adriana Renteria
State Water Board
Olga Morales
Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated
Val Schull
GreenLatinos
Martin Griffin
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Berhanu Sinshaw
University of California Merced
Dezaraye Bagalayos
Allensworth Progressive Association
Moisés Moreno-Rivera
Trust for Public Land
Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
NWF/Clean Water for All
Breanna Gonzalez
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Ruthie Redmond
UC Berkeley
Alai Reyes-Santos
Alaí Community Consulting
Jessica Thrasher
Colorado State University
Andrian Lee
BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC
Nadine Robertson
Veolia North America
Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Oday Salim
University of Michigan Law School
Direlle Calica
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)
Vinicius Taguchi
North Carolina State University
Daniela Sherrill
ASU / AZ Water for All
Nahal G. Ipakchi
BluePoint Planning
Carolan Sonderegger
For Love of Water
Alyssa Senturk
California Water Data Consortium
Bleu Adams
IndigeHub
Michael Méndez
UC Irvine
Ani Jayakaran
Washington State University
Kedar Dabhadkar
Lam Research
Jazmin Ricks
University of Pennsylvania
Portia Shepherd
Blackbelt Women Rising
Danielle Rivera
University of California Berkeley
Jessica Dandridge-Smith
The Water Collaborative
Sonali Abraham
Pacific Institute
Olga Cano
HUD
Bridget Ray
Washington State Department of Commerce
Guadalupe Fernandez
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Rob Larson
Grand Valley State University
Tony Bridges
The Maryland General Assembly
Nureen Faiza Anisha
Oregon State University
Maisah Khan
Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
Elizabeth Ruiz
CA State Water Resources Control Board
Afia Zakiya
Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation
Tanner Yess
Groundwork USA
Allen Townsend
World Wildlife Fund
Ean Tafoya
GreenLatinos
Crystal Davis
National Parks Conservation Association
Victor Galvan
Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience
Ayako Tischler
Xylem
Daniel Cordalis
Native American Rights Fund
Crystal Sanders-Alvarado
Seaworthy
Cathie Chavez-Morris
Equidad Group
Parsa Saffarinia
University of California, Davis
Cate Mingoya-LaFortune
Groundwork USA
Sydney Garcia
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Sapna Mulki
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Jeremy Orr
Earthjustice
Arohi Sharma
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
trending topics
These are the top topics that reporters, decision makers, and partners are looking for experts to speak about.
Video Library
Watch water experts share their stories and perspectives with reporters, event audiences, podcast hosts, and more.
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!
Are you a current member?
Can’t access your email? Get in touch with us!
Are you a journalist?
Download the directory and opt-in to get pitches featuring Color of Water stories.
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