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Updates to the Tennessee Stream Quantification Tool
John S. Schwartz, PhD, PE
Professor, Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Director, Tennessee Water Resources Research Center
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
The Tennessee Stream Quantification Tool (TN SQT) was developed to provide an objective, consistent, and transparent method for quantifying the functional lift (or loss) associated with stream mitigation and restoration projects by scoring sites before and after the implementation of restoration activities. Its development assists the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) with quantifying aquatic resources losses as debits for the Tennessee’s Aquatic Resources Alteration Permit (ARAP), and both the US Army Corps of Engineers and TDEC to estimate required compensatory mitigation credits per Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Tennessee Water Resources rules. The TN SQT provides for the assessment of functional lift between existing and proposed stream conditions quantifying the required linear length of restoration required to mitigate resource losses. Because the TN SQT scores an existing condition and a proposed or post project condition, it can be used to calculate functional lift and loss such that the TN Debit Tool operates with the same basic SQT principles. Finalized in 2019, the TN SQT has been implemented for over two years. During the first year if use, practitioners, academics, and some state agencies found multiple issues with the first version of the TN SQT. Because of these issues/concerns, TDEC formed a TN SQT Review Working Group. This Working Group consisting of the TDEC, USACE, and consultants met for about one-year starting in August 2020, and ideas for revision have been discussed. Following outcomes of these meetings, proposed updates to TN SQT parameters were evaluated from a comparative study of the existing versus the proposed changes. This presentation summarizes the outcome of these efforts, and the updates planned for the TN SQT version 2.0.
About John S. Schwartz, PhD, PE
Dr. John Schwartz is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and the Director of the Tennessee Water Resources Research Center. He joined the CEE Department at UT in 2003 focusing on research in areas of water resources engineering, water quality, and stream restoration. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri Columbia in 1982, his MS in Fisheries Science at Oregon State University in 1991, and his PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2002. In addition to academia, Dr. Schwartz has worked in both the public and private sectors including US EPA in Region 6 in NDDES Enforcement, and Oregon consulting firms.
