ISSE Staff
Bruce Tschantz
Senior Research Associate, Tennessee Water Resources Research Center;
Professor Emeritus, UTK Civil and Environmental Engineering
Office Phone: (865) 974-2151
Email: btschant@utk.edu
Sc.D. Civil Engineering-Water Resources, New Mexico State University
M.S.C.E., Civil Engineering-Water Resources, New Mexico State Uniiversity
B.S.C.E., Civil Engineering, Ohio Northern University
Dr. Tschantz’ primary activities center on providing technical assistance and engineering support
services to the Tennessee Water Resources Research Center. His work focuses on surface water hydrology
and hydraulics in the areas of open channel flow, urban and extreme event hydrology, nonpoint source
pollution, erosion and sediment control, sediment transport, and dam safety engineering.
Dr. Tschantz is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee after retiring in June 2002 following
37 years as Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has many years of experience in research,
teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, and practice in urban stormwater management and best management
practices (BMPs), erosion control and sediment transport, dam saftey, and open channel hydraulics.
He has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles, papers, manuals, and reports on his work. He contributed
to TDEC ’s new Tennessee Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control manualand has taught in associated statewide
training and certification workshops to hundreds of state regulators, local officials, design engineers,
and field staff. He has co-authored Tennessee ’s new Phase II Stormwater Design manual for MS4 communities.
Dr. Tschantz maintains a consulting office in West Knoxville and serves as an engineering consultant
and technical expert to several local, regional, and national engineering firms, industries, city/state/federal
agencies, citizen groups, private individuals, and attorneys in the areas of urban flooding, erosion
and sediment problems, drainage and flooding problems, dam failures and safety problems, river drownings
at low-head dams, local stormwater regulation development, and wet basements.
He has served on several national dam safety and stormwater hydrology panels in ASCE, ASDSO, FEMA, National
Academy of Sciences, and Executive Office of the President. During the Carter Administration, he coordinated
dam safety programs and developed the Federal Office of Dam Safety in FEMA where he served as the first
Chief of Federal Dam Safety in 1980.
Dr. Tschantz is a registered professional engineer in Tennessee, Ohio, and Virginia.
Outside the office, Dr. Tschantz enjoys family activities with his wife and four grandchildren. His favorite
activities are biking, camping, and fly-fishing across the country.
Selected Publications
- B.A. Tschantz, T.R. Gangaware, and R.G. Morton, Guide to the Selection and Design of Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) - A Guide for Phase II MS4 Communities for Protecting Post-construction Stormwater Quality and Managing Stormwater Flow, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation,Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Publ. 904-B-02-900, March 2003.
- J.C. Price, R. Karesh, B.A. Tschantz, et al, Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook - A Guide for Protection of State Waters through the Use of Best Management Practices during Land-disturbing Activities, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Second Edition, March 2002.
- B.A. Tschantz, "Public Hazards at Low-head Dams: Can We Make Them Safer?" National Dam Safety Conference Proceedings, 2003 Dam Safety Conference, Minneapolis, September 2003.
- B.D. Marks and B.A. Tschantz , A Technical Manual on the Effects of Tree and Woody Vegetation Root Penetrations on the Safety of Earthen Dams, Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), December 2002.
- K. Hendrick, R.B. Robinson, and B.A. Tschantz, Water quality and BMP Monitoring Report for Tunnel Reconstruction in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, research report prepared for the U.S. National Park Service, University of Tennessee Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Knoxville, Tennessee, December 2002.
- R.B. Robinson, J.S. Smoot, B.A. Tschantz, et al, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Water Quality Monitoring Network: Present and Future, paper presented to the Water Resources Division, National Park Service Meeting, Fort Collins, Colorado, November 20, 2002.
- B.A. Tschantz, Performance Evaluation of Constructed Urban Stormwater Detention Ponds in the Knoxville Area, proceedings and presentation to International Conference on Decision Making in Urban and Civil Engineering, Lyon, France, November 22, 2000.
- B.A. Tschanz, Current Problems, Practices, and Policies on Tree and Woody Plant Penetration of Dams, proceedings and presentation to Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) Annual Conference, Providence, Rhode Island, September 28-30, 2000.