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