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

AOC holds jar of brown water from next to Meta’s Georgia data center at EPA hearing: Residents ‘rely on bottled water to drink and prepare meals’ – AOL
Neighbors of a massive Meta data center can’t drink their water, and their water bills are set to skyrocket. [from AOL.com]

Environmental justice raised over data centers targeting rural NM – KRWG Public Media
GreenLatinos believes states should approach regulation of artificial intelligence data centers from a mindset of community protection and adopt a high bar for regulation. [from

'Bringing these worlds together' – Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
[from Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability]