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