Color Of Water
Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.
Charming Evelyn
OceanWell Water
Sonali Abraham
Pacific Institute
Cate Caldwell
Illinois Environmental Council
Parsa Saffarinia
University of California, Davis
Portia Shepherd
Blackbelt Women Rising
Priscila Alves
University of Maryland
Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Moisés Moreno-Rivera
Trust for Public Land
Tony Bridges
The Maryland General Assembly
Bridget Ray
Washington State Department of Commerce
Sidney Opiyo
University of California, Santa Cruz
Veronica Garibay
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
José M. Rodríguez-Flores
California State University, Monterey Bay
Martin Griffin
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Cyatharine Alias
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Harshini Ratnayaka
Save the Dunes
Daniel Cordalis
Native American Rights Fund
Emily Warren Armitano
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Bleu Adams
IndigeHub
Adriana Renteria
State Water Board
Ayako Tischler
Xylem
Nureen Faiza Anisha
Oregon State University
Frank Ruiz
The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz
Thea Louis
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Daniela Sherrill
ASU / AZ Water for All
Rhea Drozdenko
Connecticut River Conservancy
Sydney Garcia
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Diana Piña Yitbarek
NC Department of Environmental Quality
Ashwin Dhanasekar
Brown and Caldwell
Victor Galvan
Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience
Fernando Ramirez
Bridges 2023 International
Damian Shapes Padilla
Spirit Rock Consulting
Hayat Rasul
LA County
Nahal G. Ipakchi
BluePoint Planning
Vicky Espinoza
CaliWaterAg
Ani Jayakaran
Washington State University
Cindy Donis
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Alondra Hernandez-Bose
WEAT
Beth Roach
Sierra Club
André Sanchez
California Wilderness Coalition
Analise Rivero
California Trout
Ean Tafoya
GreenLatinos
Pedro Hernandez
GreenLatinos
Alex Ortiz
Austin Water and Wastewater Commission
Julian Gonzalez
Earthjustice
Esteban Ortiz
The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge
Talia London
The Common Acre
Tanasia Swift
Billion Oyster Project
Cate Mingoya-LaFortune
Groundwork USA
Alai Reyes-Santos
Alaí Community Consulting
Sapna Mulki
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Oday Salim
University of Michigan Law School
Jazmin Ricks
University of Pennsylvania
Nieves Vazquez
Water For People
Joaquin Esquivel
California State Water Resources Control Board
Maritza Mendoza
Empower DC
Nataly Escobedo Garcia
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Rachele Lopez
Justice Outside
Nasim Pica
WSP in the U.S.
Kabir Thatte
The Vessel Collective
Cheyanne Harris
Brown and Caldwell
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Pallavi Bharadwaj
SEG
Gia Moreno
Hood Community Council
Michael Méndez
UC Irvine
Alastair Bitsóí
Near the Water Media & Communications Group
Breanna Gonzalez
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Carlos Calderon
West Michigan Environmental Action Council
Carlos Moran
Northeast Trees
Dezaraye Bagalayos
Allensworth Progressive Association
Walt Walker
TYLin
Arohi Sharma
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Jessica Thrasher
Colorado State University
Cathie Chavez-Morris
Equidad Group
Andrian Lee
BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC
Briana Muñoz
Pacific Coast Carbon LLC
Aria Harris
TYLin
Patricia Lindsay-Harvey
Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority
Susana De Anda
Community Water Center
Huda Alkaff
Wisconsin Green Muslims
Allen Townsend
World Wildlife Fund
Jeremy Orr
Earthjustice
Kedar Dabhadkar
Lam Research
Chriscilia Cox
SUMA Consulting LLC
Kimbaya Carriere
Nuxalk First Nation
Khalid Osman
Stanford University
Julia Fay Bernal
Pueblo Action Alliance
Charles Cassagnol
Western Ecology, LLC
Shandin Pete
University of British Columbia
Pita Juarez
Comms Consultant
Nikki Tulley
University of Arizona
Nusrat Molla
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University
Maria Elena Kennedy
Kennedy Communications, Inc
Rene Henery
Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno
Heather Tanana
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Rob Larson
Grand Valley State University
Joy Banner
The Descendants Project
Silvia R. Gonzalez
UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute
Mallika Nocco
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Keiko Wilkins
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Tanner Yess
Groundwork USA
Vinicius Taguchi
North Carolina State University
Sarah Traore
The University of Texas at Austin
Angela M Chalk
Healthy Community Resources Services
Andrea León-Grossmann
Crystal Sanders-Alvarado
Seaworthy
Crystal Davis
National Parks Conservation Association
Dira Johanif
Charles River Climate Compact
Benu Amun Ra
S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center
Danielle Rivera
University of California Berkeley
Ciara Horne
SBG Digital
Marccus Hendricks
University of Maryland - College Park
Nicole Nelson
Equity Legal Services, Inc
Marc Oliver Quijano
Jacobs
Olga Morales
Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated
Bre’Shaun Reddick
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Guadalupe Fernandez
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Jasmine Walker
Ohio Environmental Council
Shama Perveen
Ceres
Oluwole (OJ) McFoy
Houston Public Works
Billie Li
Wright-Pierce
Temiloluwa Akinyemi
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Alyssa Senturk
California Water Data Consortium
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš
Azul
Roland Jones
CIS
Nathaniel I Kollie
University of California Santa Cruz
Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes
GreenLatinos
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Carolan Sonderegger
For Love of Water
Sandi Matsumoto
The Nature Conservancy
Quentin Stubbs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Berhanu Sinshaw
University of California Merced
John Echohawk
Native American Rights Fund
Tiffany Sevilla
Greenprint Partners
Jo Banner
The Descendants Project
Maisah Khan
Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
Jessica Dandridge-Smith
The Water Collaborative
Sri Vedachalam
Cisolutions
Nicole Chavas
Greenprint Partners
Emma Robbins
The Chapter House
Val Schull
GreenLatinos
Nadine Robertson
Veolia North America
Elizabeth Ruiz
CA State Water Resources Control Board
Xochitl Bervera
Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters
Angela Mooney D’Arcy
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples
Jaiden Willeto
Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop
Lucero Sanchez
San Diego Coastkeeper
Cheyenne Holliday
Verde
Lenise Marrero
Brown and Caldwell
Monica Driggers
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Newsha Ajami
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Olga Cano
HUD
Ngodoo Atume
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Direlle Calica
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)
Angela Guyadeen
NRDC
Sanjiv Sinha
Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.
Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George
Ferris Institute
Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
NWF/Clean Water for All
Arsum Pathak
National Wildlife Federation
Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz
Greenroots Institute
Ruthie Redmond
UC Berkeley
Ed Marin
Louisville Water
Paula Buchanan
National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School
Rhysea Agrawal
The Xylom
Ehab Meselhe
Tulane University
Chauncey Foster
we.grow.eco
Pablo Ortiz
Union of Concerned Scientists
Usman Mahmood
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Felice Green
Milwaukee Water Commons
Afia Zakiya
Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation
Jacob Bernal
American Rivers
trending topics
These are the top topics that reporters, decision makers, and partners are looking for experts to speak about.
Video Library
Watch water experts share their stories and perspectives with reporters, event audiences, podcast hosts, and more.
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!
Are you a current member?
Can’t access your email? Get in touch with us!
Are you a journalist?
Download the directory and opt-in to get pitches featuring Color of Water stories.
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