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

AOC holds jar of brown water from next to Meta’s Georgia data center at EPA hearing: Residents ‘rely on bottled water to drink and prepare meals’ – AOL
Neighbors of a massive Meta data center can’t drink their water, and their water bills are set to skyrocket. [from AOL.com]

Environmental justice raised over data centers targeting rural NM – KRWG Public Media
GreenLatinos believes states should approach regulation of artificial intelligence data centers from a mindset of community protection and adopt a high bar for regulation. [from

'Bringing these worlds together' – Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
[from Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability]