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