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

How a Michigan Supreme Court decision on a Line 5 permit might ripple beyond the pipeline – Interlochen Public Radio
Justices vacated a permit for the pipeline, while also issuing a consequential ruling for state environmental reviews on several fronts — including the state’s public

New Park Bench Monitors Offer a Pathway to Air Pollution Solutions – The Washington Informer
The District added four Village Green monitors in May to increase air quality data accessibility for residents in underserved wards. [from The Washington Informer]

New Colorado River plan causes concern and uncertainty for some tribal nations in Arizona – KNAU Arizona Public Radio
The federal framework could result in steep cuts to Arizona’s share of river water. Some Native American communities could be impacted. [from KNAU Arizona Public