Color Of Water

Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.

Joaquin Esquivel

California State Water Resources Control Board

Lucero Sanchez

San Diego Coastkeeper

Jeremy Orr

Earthjustice

Dezaraye Bagalayos

Allensworth Progressive Association

John Echohawk

Native American Rights Fund

Hayat Rasul

LA County

Alastair Bitsóí

Near the Water Media & Communications Group

Oluwole (OJ) McFoy

Houston Public Works

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Nusrat Molla

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University

Arohi Sharma

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Sanjiv Sinha

Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.

Jessica Dandridge-Smith

The Water Collaborative

Bridget Ray

Washington State Department of Commerce

Damian Shapes Padilla

Spirit Rock Consulting

Heather Tanana

University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Nataly Escobedo Garcia

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Danielle Rivera

University of California Berkeley

Michael Méndez

UC Irvine

Daniel Cordalis

Native American Rights Fund

Andrea León-Grossmann

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Alondra Hernandez-Bose

WEAT

Khalid Osman

Stanford University

Angela Guyadeen

NRDC

Dira Johanif

Charles River Climate Compact

Parsa Saffarinia

University of California, Davis

Vinicius Taguchi

North Carolina State University

Carolan Sonderegger

For Love of Water

Ehab Meselhe

Tulane University

Ngodoo Atume

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Frank Ruiz

The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz

Analise Rivero

California Trout

Fernando Ramirez

Bridges 2023 International

Alai Reyes-Santos

Alaí Community Consulting

Tanasia Swift

Billion Oyster Project

Nathaniel I Kollie

University of California Santa Cruz

Veronica Garibay

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Jessica Thrasher

Colorado State University

Ciara Horne

SBG Digital

Diana Piña Yitbarek

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Carlos Calderon

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Felice Green

Milwaukee Water Commons

André Sanchez

California Wilderness Coalition

Jo Banner

The Descendants Project

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Andrian Lee

BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC

Susana De Anda

Community Water Center

Maritza Mendoza

Empower DC

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey

Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority

Quentin Stubbs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Ed Marin

Louisville Water

Rachele Lopez

Justice Outside

Rhea Drozdenko

Connecticut River Conservancy

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Ruthie Redmond

UC Berkeley

Adriana Renteria

State Water Board

Roland Jones

CIS

Jaiden Willeto

Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop

Bre’Shaun Reddick

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Ashwin Dhanasekar

Brown and Caldwell

Temiloluwa Akinyemi

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Direlle Calica

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

Moisés Moreno-Rivera

Trust for Public Land

Chauncey Foster

we.grow.eco

Harshini Ratnayaka

Save the Dunes

Sidney Opiyo

University of California, Santa Cruz

Maria Elena Kennedy

Kennedy Communications, Inc

Portia Shepherd

Blackbelt Women Rising

Ayako Tischler

Xylem

Cyatharine Alias

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Gia Moreno

Hood Community Council

Priscila Alves

University of Maryland

Jasmine Walker

Ohio Environmental Council

Cheyenne Holliday

Verde

Billie Li

Wright-Pierce

Martin Griffin

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Sri Vedachalam

Cisolutions

Vicky Espinoza

CaliWaterAg

Rhysea Agrawal

The Xylom

Briana Muñoz

Pacific Coast Carbon LLC

Kedar Dabhadkar

Lam Research

Julian Gonzalez

Earthjustice

Sapna Mulki

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Charles Cassagnol

Western Ecology, LLC

Sydney Garcia

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Nicole Chavas

Greenprint Partners

Allen Townsend

World Wildlife Fund

Jacob Bernal

American Rivers

Joy Banner

The Descendants Project

Monica Driggers

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

Nasim Pica

WSP in the U.S.

Olga Cano

HUD

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune

Groundwork USA

Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Esteban Ortiz

The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge

Elizabeth Ruiz

CA State Water Resources Control Board

Pallavi Bharadwaj

SEG

Cheyanne Harris

Brown and Caldwell

Breanna Gonzalez

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Angela M Chalk

Healthy Community Resources Services

Oday Salim

University of Michigan Law School

Nadine Robertson

Veolia North America

Jazmin Ricks

University of Pennsylvania

Sarah Traore

The University of Texas at Austin

Walt Walker

TYLin

Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

GreenLatinos

Nicole Nelson

Equity Legal Services, Inc

Marc Oliver Quijano

Jacobs

Usman Mahmood

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Alex Ortiz

Austin Water and Wastewater Commission

Sandi Matsumoto

The Nature Conservancy

Emily Warren Armitano

Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Lenise Marrero

Brown and Caldwell

Victor Galvan

Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience

Marccus Hendricks

University of Maryland - College Park

Charming Evelyn

OceanWell Water

Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz

Greenroots Institute

José M. Rodríguez-Flores

California State University, Monterey Bay

Keiko Wilkins

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Aria Harris

TYLin

Huda Alkaff

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Angela Mooney D’Arcy

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Berhanu Sinshaw

University of California Merced

Rob Larson

Grand Valley State University

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš

Azul

Beth Roach

Sierra Club

Ean Tafoya

GreenLatinos

Maisah Khan

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Tiffany Sevilla

Greenprint Partners

Benu Amun Ra

S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center

Mahtaab Bagherzadeh

NWF/Clean Water for All

Kabir Thatte

The Vessel Collective

Nureen Faiza Anisha

Oregon State University

Pita Juarez

Comms Consultant

Nieves Vazquez

Water For People

Julia Fay Bernal

Pueblo Action Alliance

Rene Henery

Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno

Talia London

The Common Acre

Shandin Pete

University of British Columbia

Nikki Tulley

University of Arizona

Cathie Chavez-Morris

Equidad Group

Silvia R. Gonzalez

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

Olga Morales

Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated

Pablo Ortiz

Union of Concerned Scientists

Guadalupe Fernandez

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Pedro Hernandez

GreenLatinos

Shama Perveen

Ceres

Afia Zakiya

Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation

Cate Caldwell

Illinois Environmental Council

Brenda Coley

Milwaukee Water Commons

Xochitl Bervera

Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Tanner Yess

Groundwork USA

Bleu Adams

IndigeHub

Mallika Nocco

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Sonali Abraham

Pacific Institute

Paula Buchanan

National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School

Tony Bridges

The Maryland General Assembly

Crystal Sanders-Alvarado

Seaworthy

Chriscilia Cox

SUMA Consulting LLC

Carlos Moran

Northeast Trees

Thea Louis

MSC Industrial Supply Co.

Ani Jayakaran

Washington State University

Nahal G. Ipakchi

BluePoint Planning

Crystal Davis

National Parks Conservation Association

Val Schull

GreenLatinos

Cindy Donis

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Daniela Sherrill

ASU / AZ Water for All

Arsum Pathak

National Wildlife Federation

Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George

Ferris Institute

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Emma Robbins

The Chapter House

Newsha Ajami

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

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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.

explore the Color of Water directory

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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