Hans Peter Broers
Dr. Hans Peter Broers is senior scientist focusing on groundwater quality and groundwater flow and transport.
Contact Hans Peter for R&D on:
- Diffuse groundwater pollution
- Monitoring strategies for surface water and groundwater
- Tracer hydrogeology and groundwater age dating
- Groundwater-surface water interaction
- Groundwater information products, such as:
Research areas
Hans Peters’ research is primarily directed towards the relationship between human activities in and on the subsurface and the quality of groundwater and surface water. This research is important to maintain a proper balance between the variety of functions that the subsurface provides, and the preservation of the quality and quantity of groundwater resources and associated surface water and ecosystems. He studies the transport of diffuse contaminants, such as nutrients, pesticides, and emerging contaminants, including veterinary antibiotics and PFAS.
His expertise includes groundwater age dating and monitoring of ground and surface water, for example, relating to travel time distributions and water quality forecasts for drinking water supply. He supervised PhD students on groundwater age dating, groundwater-surface water interaction, statistical trend analyses, transport of emerging contaminants, and hydrogeochemistry of diffuse contaminants in groundwater.
Important Publications
- Broers, H. P., Kivits, T., Sültenfuß, J., Ten Harkel, M., & van Vliet, M. (2024). Mobility and persistence of pesticides and emerging contaminants in age-dated and redox-classified groundwater under a range of land use types. Science of The Total Environment, 954, 176344.
- Broers, H. P., van Vliet, M., Kivits, T., Vernes, R., Brussée, T., Sültenfuß, J., & Fraters, D. (2024). Nitrate trend reversal in Dutch dual-permeability chalk springs, evaluated by tritium-based groundwater travel time distributions. Science of The Total Environment, 951, 175250.
- Broers, H. P., Sültenfuß, J., Aeschbach, W., Kersting, A., Menkovich, A., de Weert, J., & Castelijns, J. (2021). Paleoclimate signals and groundwater age distributions from 39 public water works in the Netherlands; insights from noble gases and carbon, hydrogen and oxygen isotope tracers. Water Resources Research, 57(7), e2020WR029058.
- Kivits, T., Broers, H. P., Beeltje, H., van Vliet, M., & Griffioen, J. (2018). Presence and fate of veterinary antibiotics in age-dated groundwater in areas with intensive livestock farming. Environmental Pollution, 241, 988-998..
- Zhang, Y. C., Slomp, C. P., Broers, H. P., Passier, H. F., & Van Cappellen, P. (2009). Denitrification coupled to pyrite oxidation and changes in groundwater quality in a shallow sandy aquifer. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 73(22), 6716-6726.
- Rozemeijer, J. C., & Broers, H. P. (2007). The groundwater contribution to surface water contamination in a region with intensive agricultural land use (Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands). Environmental Pollution, 148(3), 695-706.
Utrecht
Princetonlaan 6
3584 CB Utrecht
The Netherlands
Postal address
P.O. Box 80015
3508 TA Utrecht
The Netherlands