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

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