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

300 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage and a Nation's Crumbling Pipes: America's Wastewater Infrastructure Is Failing in Real Time – Nature World News
Hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Potomac River after a major pipe collapse, exposing America’s worsening wastewater infrastructure crisis. [from

Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal. – ProPublica
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are resisting the deal because it would allow the Navajo and Hopi to lease water to cities downstream, likely

Millions of Americans still live without running water. What it will take to plug the water gap – Straight Arrow
Millions of Americans still lack running water, forcing families to haul every drop as aging systems, high costs and poor data tracking widen the gap.