Hans van Dijk

Prof. van Dijk (1954) is a water quality expert with over 30 years of experience in the field of drinking water research and engineering.
Since 1990 he has been the leading professor in drinking water engineering at TU Delft. In 1991 he was awarded the IWA Maarten Schalekamp Award for his work on the development of pellet reactors for the softening of drinking water.
During his professional career, prof. van Dijk has served as process engineer, project leader, department head and director of drinking water of DHV Consultants (1976-2000), part-time professor at TU Delft (1990-2000), full-time professor at TU Delft (2000-present) and scientific director of Kiwa Water Research (2001-2007).
Prof. van Dijk has published over 300 scientific and professional papers and supervised nearly 100 MSc-students and nearly 25 PhD-students.
Currently, he holds the Chair in Drinking Water Engineering, is the head of the Sanitary Engineering Section and the Chairman of the Watermanagement Department of TU Delft.

Secondary employment

Not applicable

Professional experience and expertise

At DHV (1976-2000)

Studies, designs and construction of many plants for the abstraction, treatment, storage and distribution of drinking water. In the Netherlands many projects, including large-scale (such as the Berenplaat for the city of Rotterdam) and innovative ones (such as Heel , a project for the water supply of Limburg, where river Meuse water is infiltrated in aquifers and production is coupled to existing ground water plants). Overseas also many projects, including the water supply of Bombay, Bandung, Saudi-Arabia, Nigeria, Bangladesh en Aruba/Curaçao. Also research projects, in particular regarding softening of drinking water and the developments of pellet reactors for recovery of phosphate and heavy metals from wastewater. A number of patents were obtained in this area.

As part-time professor of drinking water supply at DUT(1990-2000)

Teaching graduate courses on drinking water supply. Research was mainly carried out by MSc-students (in total 65, refer to separate list of graduates). Organisation of post-graduate courses and congresses, including the “Vakantiecursus”. Start-up of PhD-research on membrane filtration and modelling. A number of co-promotions were completed, amongst others in cooperation with IHE.

As full-time professor of DUT (from 2000 onwards)

Curriculum has been revised and expanded, including the undergraduate courses on Water Management. Personal responsibility of a total of 6 courses (26 ECTS). New modules have been set-up in the field of ICTO and Open Course Ware. Research has been renewed and expanded to form a comprehensive programme focussed on the supply of drinking water of impeccable quality. Spearheads in the programme are:
1. Emerging technologies (MF/UV/H2O2/IEX) and emerging threats (pharmaceuticals, EDCs , Legionella)
2. Modeling, sensoring and automation (Stimela, virtual drinking water plant)
3. Integrated solutions for the water cycle (crossing the boundaries of disciplines)
In the past years we managed to expand our scope with 2 new niches:
4. Technologies for an optimal design and operation of distribution networks (limit particle load, self cleaning networks)
5. Technologies for the 3rd world (Arsenic removal Bangladesh) and arid areas (drinking with the wind, drinking with the sun)
Presently, some 20 PhD-researchers are working on the programme. Furthermore, the research group is developing all kind of new initiatives like the bi-annual workshops on "High Quality Drinking Water", the new on line journal "Drinking Water Engineering and Science" and the Delft Academic Press publisher.
Management responsibilities as head of the section Sanitary Engineering, chairman of the department of Water Management, member of the Management team van CiTG, member of the Research Board on Water and chairman of the chairman of the education committee of Civil Engineering. Also chairman of the segment on urban water of the spearhead Water and chairman of the segment on urban water of Delft Cluster.

As scientific director of Kiwa Water Research (2001-2007)

Responsible for the collective research programme of the Dutch water companies. This programme has a value of 6 million euro annually and is set-up in cooperation with DUT and other research institutes in the Netherlands and abroad. Focal points are sustainable sources, impeccable water quality (including the prevention of growth of Legionella), water treatment (membrane filtration and UV-disinfection) and distribution ( without loss of quality). Personally responsible for the cooperation with international partners including AWWARF, UKWIR, TZW, CRC, Veolia and Ondeo.