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