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