Dr. Boris van Breukelen is associate professor in Environmental Water Quality.
He performs research to integrated water quantity & quality management particularly of groundwater resources. He brings together the societal challenges of climate-adaptation with the need for better water quality in the environment.

His main research aim is to improve the mechanistic understanding of water quality changes and treatment in natural and engineered environmental systems with the goal of evidence-based water resources management, and improved design and operation of technologies like Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR), and Riverbank Filtration (RBF). Nature-based solutions are central in his approach to solve societal challenges with a mix of science and engineering.

He is interested in the transport and fate in the water environment of a broad variety of contaminants and their interactions, i.e. to address water quality as a whole: e.g. organic micro-pollutants incl. chlorinated ethenes, pesticides, and PFAS; human and plant pathogens; metals & geogenic elements (e.g. iron, arsenic, fluoride); salts; and nutrients. To this end, he combines extensive field site (pilot) research to various water/treatment technologies and hydro(geo)logical systems with reactive transport modelling including of isotope fractionation effects and simulation of biomarkers, in multi- and transdisciplinary intersectoral projects.

A current focus is pre-treatment of urban storm water and effluents of agriculture with various types of sand filters, and subsequent seasonal water storage and further treatment in the subsurface (i.e. aquifers), for later re-use as irrigation water in summer. In addition, he is driven to contribute to the building of a hydro(geo)logical knowledge base for sustainable water management incl. sanitary engineering in the Dutch Caribbean.

He currently (co-)supervises 9 PhD students, 2 EngD students, and 2 post-docs. He has a leading role in several research projects funded by the national science foundation (NWO).

List of publications (google scholar)

Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Water – Section Environmental Water Quality

Current projects (selection)

• (2024-2028) “Aquifer Treatment as Green Purification Technology for Sustainable Drinking Water Supply” (NWO AQUIPURA).
• (2022-2027) “Climate-resilient agriculture in the Dutch salinizing coastal delta: innovative water management, adaptive agriculture, and promising transition pathways” (NWO AGRICOAST).
• (2021-2026) “Land, Sea, and Society: Linking terrestrial pollutants and inputs to nearshore coral reef growth to identify novel conservation options for the Dutch Caribbean” (NWO SEALINK).
• (2021-2025) “Sensor data fusion for remote monitoring of hydrocarbon groundwater pollution plumes” (NWO Wetsus Water Technology).

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