Sarah Terpstra is the manager of the Water-Based Systems Unit for the TN Division of Water Resources, which primarily issues NPDES discharge permits and administers the state’s pretreatment program. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Chemical Physics from Maryville College, Sarah lived for a year in Peru, where she worked with environmental non-profits in both the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Rainforest. She recently graduated from Tennessee Technological University with her Professional Science Master’s in Environmental Informatics.
Prior to joining DWR ten years ago, Sarah worked as radiological chemist in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, including with a start-up performing cesium-137 removal from contaminated seawater following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. In her spare time, she enjoys attending and photographing folklife and music events around the state with her husband Bradley, Tennessee’s State Folklorist.