Color Of Water

Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.

Ngodoo Atume

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Nadine Robertson

Veolia North America

Frank Ruiz

The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Hayat Rasul

LA County

Maisah Khan

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Daniel Cordalis

Native American Rights Fund

Paula Buchanan

National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School

Maria Elena Kennedy

Kennedy Communications, Inc

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Felice Green

Milwaukee Water Commons

Nieves Vazquez

Water For People

Nikki Tulley

University of Arizona

Chauncey Foster

we.grow.eco

Martin Griffin

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Nasim Pica

WSP in the U.S.

Nataly Escobedo Garcia

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Olga Cano

HUD

Victor Galvan

Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience

Roland Jones

CIS

Kedar Dabhadkar

Lam Research

Crystal Sanders-Alvarado

Seaworthy

Allen Townsend

World Wildlife Fund

Breanna Gonzalez

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Moisés Moreno-Rivera

Trust for Public Land

Elizabeth Ruiz

CA State Water Resources Control Board

Ashwin Dhanasekar

Brown and Caldwell

Damian Shapes Padilla

Spirit Rock Consulting

Tanner Yess

Groundwork USA

Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

GreenLatinos

Usman Mahmood

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Alondra Hernandez-Bose

WEAT

Quentin Stubbs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Alai Reyes-Santos

Alaí Community Consulting

Sarah Traore

The University of Texas at Austin

José M. Rodríguez-Flores

California State University, Monterey Bay

Rene Henery

Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno

Ani Jayakaran

Washington State University

Afia Zakiya

Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation

Nicole Nelson

Equity Legal Services, Inc

Emily Warren Armitano

Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Sanjiv Sinha

Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.

Jo Banner

The Descendants Project

Sri Vedachalam

Cisolutions

Vinicius Taguchi

North Carolina State University

Tanasia Swift

Billion Oyster Project

Danielle Rivera

University of California Berkeley

Susana De Anda

Community Water Center

Beth Roach

Sierra Club

Lenise Marrero

Brown and Caldwell

Oluwole (OJ) McFoy

Houston Public Works

Bridget Ray

Washington State Department of Commerce

Marc Oliver Quijano

Jacobs

Rhea Drozdenko

Connecticut River Conservancy

Dezaraye Bagalayos

Allensworth Progressive Association

Sapna Mulki

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Pita Juarez

Comms Consultant

Ean Tafoya

GreenLatinos

Ehab Meselhe

Tulane University

Alex Ortiz

Austin Water and Wastewater Commission

Pallavi Bharadwaj

SEG

Emma Robbins

The Chapter House

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune

Groundwork USA

Ed Marin

Louisville Water

Xochitl Bervera

Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters

Nusrat Molla

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University

Vicky Espinoza

CaliWaterAg

Andrea León-Grossmann

Talia London

The Common Acre

Berhanu Sinshaw

University of California Merced

Gia Moreno

Hood Community Council

Charles Cassagnol

Western Ecology, LLC

Pedro Hernandez

GreenLatinos

Keiko Wilkins

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Direlle Calica

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

Harshini Ratnayaka

Save the Dunes

Carolan Sonderegger

For Love of Water

Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George

Ferris Institute

Carlos Moran

Northeast Trees

Arsum Pathak

National Wildlife Federation

Jeremy Orr

Earthjustice

Val Schull

GreenLatinos

Alastair Bitsóí

Near the Water Media & Communications Group

Daniela Sherrill

ASU / AZ Water for All

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey

Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority

Chriscilia Cox

SUMA Consulting LLC

Jessica Thrasher

Colorado State University

Veronica Garibay

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Esteban Ortiz

The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge

Carlos Calderon

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Jacob Bernal

American Rivers

Thea Louis

MSC Industrial Supply Co.

Rob Larson

Grand Valley State University

Michael Méndez

UC Irvine

Andrian Lee

BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC

Cathie Chavez-Morris

Equidad Group

Jaiden Willeto

Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop

Newsha Ajami

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

Arohi Sharma

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Dira Johanif

Charles River Climate Compact

Shama Perveen

Ceres

Lucero Sanchez

San Diego Coastkeeper

Walt Walker

TYLin

Julian Gonzalez

Earthjustice

Ruthie Redmond

UC Berkeley

Adriana Renteria

State Water Board

Tony Bridges

The Maryland General Assembly

Ayako Tischler

Xylem

Cyatharine Alias

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Aria Harris

TYLin

André Sanchez

California Wilderness Coalition

Crystal Davis

National Parks Conservation Association

Cate Caldwell

Illinois Environmental Council

Cindy Donis

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Silvia R. Gonzalez

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

Sonali Abraham

Pacific Institute

Cheyanne Harris

Brown and Caldwell

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Nureen Faiza Anisha

Oregon State University

Huda Alkaff

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Oday Salim

University of Michigan Law School

Nicole Chavas

Greenprint Partners

Sydney Garcia

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Maritza Mendoza

Empower DC

Jessica Dandridge-Smith

The Water Collaborative

Joaquin Esquivel

California State Water Resources Control Board

Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

Nathaniel I Kollie

University of California Santa Cruz

Ciara Horne

SBG Digital

Priscila Alves

University of Maryland

Olga Morales

Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Rachele Lopez

Justice Outside

Julia Fay Bernal

Pueblo Action Alliance

Angela Guyadeen

NRDC

Fernando Ramirez

Bridges 2023 International

Portia Shepherd

Blackbelt Women Rising

Monica Driggers

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

Jasmine Walker

Ohio Environmental Council

Benu Amun Ra

S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center

Rhysea Agrawal

The Xylom

Sidney Opiyo

University of California, Santa Cruz

Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz

Greenroots Institute

Billie Li

Wright-Pierce

Bre’Shaun Reddick

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš

Azul

Kabir Thatte

The Vessel Collective

Guadalupe Fernandez

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Parsa Saffarinia

University of California, Davis

Analise Rivero

California Trout

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Temiloluwa Akinyemi

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Marccus Hendricks

University of Maryland - College Park

Bleu Adams

IndigeHub

Cheyenne Holliday

Verde

Charming Evelyn

OceanWell Water

Khalid Osman

Stanford University

Pablo Ortiz

Union of Concerned Scientists

Diana Piña Yitbarek

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Mallika Nocco

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Shandin Pete

University of British Columbia

Angela Mooney D’Arcy

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Heather Tanana

University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Jazmin Ricks

University of Pennsylvania

Angela M Chalk

Healthy Community Resources Services

Mahtaab Bagherzadeh

NWF/Clean Water for All

Briana Muñoz

Pacific Coast Carbon LLC

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Nahal G. Ipakchi

BluePoint Planning

Joy Banner

The Descendants Project

John Echohawk

Native American Rights Fund

Tiffany Sevilla

Greenprint Partners

Sandi Matsumoto

The Nature Conservancy

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.

explore the Color of Water directory

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?

Update your color of water profile.

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?