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