TN WRRC Staff
Timothy R. Gangaware, AICP, is Assistant Director of the Water Resources Research Center, a federally designated research institute which supports and coordinates water-resource research at colleges and universities in Tennessee. His research interests include water-resources management, control of nonpoint source water pollution, watershed assessment, and environmental planning. Mr. Gangaware is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and is active in numerous water-resources professional organizations, including American Water Resources Association,Water Environment Federation, American Water Works Association, and Universities Council on Water Resources. He is currently President of the Tennessee Section of the American Water Resources Association. His hobbies include fishing, backpacking, hiking, boating, and the art of grilling.
Ruth Anne Hanahan coordinates education and outreach activities for the Water Resources Research Center. Her primary focus over the past six years has been to build and manage the Knox County Adopt-A-Watershed (AAW) Program. Ms. Hanahan conducts the program on behalf of the Water Quality Forum, a local consortium of agencies and organizations dedicated to protecting and improving regional water quality. The Knox County program is one of the largest and most active AAW programs in the Southeastern United States.
Some 14 Knox County middle and high schools, 25 teachers, and more than 2,000 students participate in this hands-on environmental education program annually. As part of her program oversight responsibilities, Ms. Hanahan organizes annual teacher-training workshops, supervises the AmeriCorps Team that helps implement the program, and facilitates community partnerships that provide in-kind and direct programmatic support.
In addition to coordinating the AAW program, Ms. Hanahan has been instrumental in developing the Water Quality Forum's Web site (waterqualityforum.org). She also has helped organize and implement other educational/community outreach and technical projects, such as the Forum's Adopt-A-Stream Program, stream soil biorestoration demonstration projects, and grassroots watershed initiatives (the Beaver Creek Watershed Association, for example).
During this past year, Ms. Hanahan joined the Tennessee Growth Readiness (TGR) Delivery Team. TGR, a statewide training program designed to build awareness about water quality issues related to land use, is a collaboration among the Water Resources Research Center, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and local, state, and federal agencies. TGR training specifically targets community planners and engineers who must respond to new Clean Water Act requirements in the face of rapid community growth.
Ms. Hanahan also has a special interest in volunteer monitoring and is currently examining state volunteer monitoring programs in the Southeast. The overarching goal of this study is to provide a set of recommendations to Tennessee policy decision makers and other stakeholders regarding the viability of initiating a statewide volunteer monitoring program and identifying actions necessary to implement such a program.
Ms. Hanahan has recently been recognized for "Outstanding Support for Water Quality and Conservation Measures" by the Knox County Soil Conservation District, "Outstanding Work with the Water Quality Forum" by the CAC AmeriCorps Program, and "Special Recognition for Support of the Water Quality Forum, 2003" by the Water Quality Forum.
Dr. Bruce Tschantz is a Senior Research Associate whose 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.