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

300 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage and a Nation's Crumbling Pipes: America's Wastewater Infrastructure Is Failing in Real Time – Nature World News
Hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Potomac River after a major pipe collapse, exposing America’s worsening wastewater infrastructure crisis. [from

Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal. – ProPublica
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are resisting the deal because it would allow the Navajo and Hopi to lease water to cities downstream, likely

Millions of Americans still live without running water. What it will take to plug the water gap – Straight Arrow
Millions of Americans still lack running water, forcing families to haul every drop as aging systems, high costs and poor data tracking widen the gap.