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

How a Michigan Supreme Court decision on a Line 5 permit might ripple beyond the pipeline – Interlochen Public Radio
Justices vacated a permit for the pipeline, while also issuing a consequential ruling for state environmental reviews on several fronts — including the state’s public

New Park Bench Monitors Offer a Pathway to Air Pollution Solutions – The Washington Informer
The District added four Village Green monitors in May to increase air quality data accessibility for residents in underserved wards. [from The Washington Informer]

New Colorado River plan causes concern and uncertainty for some tribal nations in Arizona – KNAU Arizona Public Radio
The federal framework could result in steep cuts to Arizona’s share of river water. Some Native American communities could be impacted. [from KNAU Arizona Public