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

VOICES: Protecting what we love in the age of AI – Planet Detroit
The director of Michigan Green Muslims offers a faith-based perspective on why Great Lakes communities are pushing back against data centers. [from Planet Detroit]

How more than 240 million gallons of sewage flowed into the Potomac River – NPR
NPR's Erika Ryan reports from the site of one of the nation's largest sewage spills ever — just outside of Washington, D.C. — in January.

Nearly half of L.A. County’s pavement may be unnecessary, new map finds – Los Angeles Times
Researchers have released the first parcel-level analysis to map all paved surfaces across L.A. County. In particular, large parking lots are ripe for change, they