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

2.9 billion gallons of clean drinking water added to California’s supply with new investments | Governor of California
[from Governor of California]

Will adding more lanes fix I-270 congestion? CDOT’s favored fix will test its new mission, opponents say. – The Colorado Sun
CDOT wants to widen I-270 to speed traffic and heighten safety, but clean transportation advocates say the old solutions are no longer relevant. [from The