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