Hans Gehrels
expert advisor on sustainable urban water management / market team manager Sustainable Cities
+31613181630
Hans.Gehrels@deltares.nl LinkedIn profileHans Gehrels holds a PhD in hydrogeology and developed a clear focus on sustainable water management and urban resilience throughout his career. His main fields of expertise as a strategic advisor include urban resilience and sustainability, flood risk, climate adaptation and water sensitive urban design. Gehrels has work experience in The Netherlands, Argentina, Botswana, Costa Rica, India, Lao PDR, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United States, Viet Nam. He has recently worked as a team leader in World Bank assignments focusing on flood risk management in Muang Xay (Lao PDR), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Manila (the Philippines) and in Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam). Gehrels is currently the leader of the research track on Climate-proof Cities within the Dutch National Water and Climate Knowledge and Innovation Programme.
Hans Gehrels is manager of Deltares’ corporate market team on Urban Resilience. This corporate team initiates and coordinates research and specialist advice Deltares offers worldwide on the challenges of cities in becoming more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Gehrels represents Deltares as a Platform Partner in the 100 Resilient Cities Network powered by Rockefeller. As a Platform Partner, Deltares is currently involved in building resilience in New Orleans, Mexico City, San Juan, Bangkok, Surat and Christchurch.
Gehrels has experience as a researcher, as a manager and as a strategic advisor for multiple stakeholders. He worked as a researcher at TNO Institute of Applied Geosciences, a forerunner of Deltares. In addition, Gehrels was assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, focusing on stochastic hydrology and geohydrology. Gehrels has been the manager of several urban water management departments at Deltares, being responsible for project management, financial results and human resources. As a strategic advisor, he supports cities in complex projects aiming at improving urban water management and sustainable development. Gehrels (co-)authored several publications for international peer-reviewed journals, dealing with groundwater modelling, time series analysis, groundwater recharge, unsaturated zone hydrology, and aquifer heterogeneity.
Working experience
| 2012- present | Deltares | expert advisor urban water management / market team manager urban resilience |
| 2012 – present | Deltares | expert advisor on sustainable urban water management / market team manager Sustainable Cities |
| 2009 – 2012 | Deltares | Head of the department of Urban Water and Subsurface and member of the Soil and Groundwater Systems management team |
| 2008 – 2009 | Deltares | Head of the department of Geo-infrastructure and member of the Soil and Groundwater Systems management team |
| 2006 – 2007 | TNO | Head of the department of Geo-infrastructure and Observation and member of Soil and Groundwater management team |
| 1996 – 2005 | TNO | Researcher/consultant - National Geological Survey, Groundwater Department |
| 2000 – 2004 | Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Department of Water Management | Assistant professor |
| 1994 – 1996 | Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Department of Water Management | Research fellow |
| 1990 – 1994 | The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Department of Hydrology and Quaternary Geology | Ph.D. student |
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Work package leader in 'Adapative Circular Cities'
NL, 2014 – present
Objective: contribute to a breakthrough in taking cross sectoral decisions on investing in concepts that lead to both climate adaptation, climate mitigation and resource efficiency in urban regions.
Consortium: Deltares, Wageningen UR, TNO, ECN.
Client: Ministry of Economic Affairs -
Work package leader in ‘RainSense: Sensors and Citizens preparing Amsterdam for Future Weather’
NL, 2014 – present
Objective: to create a ‘living weather sensing lab’ in Amsterdam, where sensors and citizens will jointly provide detailed and up-to-date information about rainfall, local water system conditions and flooding in the city.
Partners: WUR, IBM, Cisco, Waternet, Deltares, KPN.
Client: Amsterdam Metropolitan Solutions AMS. -
Team member in ‘Southeast Florida Resilient Redesign’
US, 2014
Objective: develop resilient design strategies for the urban environment of southeast Florida with an emphasis on adaptations for sea level rise, integration of natural infrastructure, and the development of transferable models relevant to development and redevelopment opportunities throughout the region.
Client: Southeast Florida Regional Compact on Climate Change. -
Team leader of ‘Preliminary Flood Modelling of Fort Lauderdale with 3Di water management’
US, 2013
Objective: demonstration of the capabilities of 3Di and simulation of urban flooding as a result of tidal inundation and excess precipitation. Results were presented at the South East Florida Climate Leadership Summit.
Partners: Deltares, Nelen & Schuurmans.
Client: City of Fort Lauderdale. -
Member of NYC Jamaica Bay Strategy Team in ‘How to Keep the Jamaica Bay Area Safe and Resilient’
US, 2012
Objective: develop approaches and methodologies that help formulate a vision and strategy for Jamaica Bay that connect to the goals of PlaNYC 'A Stronger, More Resilient New York'.
Partners: Waggonner & Ball, Fugro, RPA, Deltares, Nelen & Schuurmans, Pratt Institute, Arcadis USA, Rebel Group, Perkins Eastman, Provincie Noord Holland.
Client: Henry Hudson 500 Foundation. -
Team member of ‘Exploring groundwater resources on Jurong Island, Singapore’
SN, 2012
Objective: assess the groundwater resources of Jurong Island as a first step towards utilizing Singapore’s full groundwater potential.
Partners: National University of Singapore, Deltares, TriTech.
Client: Public Utilities Board of Singapore. -
Think Tank member of EU INTERREG IVB North-West Europe project ‘CityChlor’, on tackling urban soil and groundwater contamination caused by chlorinated solvents.
2011 - 2013, US
Objective: develop and integrated approach to tackle the threats caused by contamination with chlorinated solvents in urban areas.
Partners: Deltares, Wageningen UR, Bioclear.
Client: City of Utrecht.
More information: www.citychlor.eu -
Technical Steering Committee Board member of Joint Industry Project ‘Geothermal energy opportunities (Meer met Bodemenergie)’
NL, 2008 – 2012
Objective: assessing both the environmental impacts and new opportunities with aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES). The project has been a unique cooperation of public and private parties, addressing questions such as whether or not the subsurface is capable of coping with the increasing pressure of the growing numbers of ATES systems.
Partners: Deltares, IF Technology, Bioclear, Wageningen UR.
Client: 35 parties from government and industry.
More information: www.meermetbodemenergie.nl. -
Team leader of strategic research program ‘Urban flooding and water supply’
NL, 2010 – 2013
Objectives: develop research portfolio of multiple projects focusing on the impact of climate change on urban water systems and water management; tools and measures to counteract urban flooding and to improve water supply.
Partners: cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Haaglanden.
Clients: Ministry of Economic Affairs, Knowledge for Climate Programme, Rioned, STOWA. -
Work package leader of the EU FP5 research project ‘Stochastic analysis of well head protection and risk assessment (W-SAHARA)’
EU, 2002- 2005
Objectives include: (a) develop and apply a quantitative risk-based methodology for the protection of groundwater drinking well fields; and (b) produce guidelines for drinking water companies and Environmental Agencies on how to reduce uncertainty on heads/fluxes prediction by geological field investigations and monitoring of groundwater heads/concentrations.
Partners: Polytechnic of Milan, Delft Univ. of Techn., Imperial College, ETH Zurich, Univ. Tuebingen, Univ. Louis Pasteur.
More information: http://www.eugris.info/displayproject.asp?Projectid=4169.
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Recent Advances in Flood Modeling: 3Di water management
2013
Arthur van Dam, Elgard van Leeuwen, Hans Gehrels, Guus Stelling, Wytze Schuurmans. Invited key note lecture at 5th Annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit, Fort Lauderdale. -
Jamaica Bay – A Hidden Treasure
2012
Tom McNeilan, Sally McNeilan, Rob Daoust, Hans Gehrels, Elgard van Leeuwen, Mark Ekerm, Wytze Schuurmans, Irene Pohl, Stefan Nijwening, Carl Paauwe, Kyle Kozar, Eric Fang, Elisabetta Distefano. Key note lecture at Henry Hudson H2O9 Forum – Water challenges for Coastal Cities; Strategy-session 2: how to keep the Jamaica Bay area safe and resilient. -
Land & Water Management in the Urban Environment.
2009
Van de Ven, F.H.M., H. Gehrels, H. van Meerten, B. van de Pas, E. Ruijgh, D., Vatvani, N. van Oostrom and Th van der Linden, Deltares, Utrecht/Delft, 68 pp -
How water can support the city. H2O
2009
Van de Ven, F.H.M., Gehrels, J.C., Van der Linden, T., & Van Oostrom, N.G.C, (2009); How water can support the city. H2O, 42(25), 29. -
Coupled Surface and groundwater flow modelling; a case study of a Dutch polder
2008
Bakr, M.I., N. Goorden, R.J. Stuurman, J.C. Gehrels, A. Lourens & G. Verhoeven (2008); Paper at IAHR international Groundwater Symposium - Istanbul 2008. -
A non-linear state space approach to model groundwater fluctuations
2006
Berendrecht, W.L., Heemink, A.W., Van Geer, F.C. & Gehrels, J.C. (2006); Advances in water resources 29 (7), 959-973. -
Calibration and reliability in groundwater modelling: from uncertainty to decision making
2006
Bierkens, M.F.P., Gehrels, J.C., & Kovar, K. (2006); IAHS Publ. 304, 316 pp -
Reliability assessment of groundwater monitoring networks at landfill sites.
2005
Yenigul, N.B., A.M.M. Elfeki, J.C. Gehrels, C. van den Akker, A.T. Hensbergen & F.M. Dekking (2005); J. Hydrol. 308: 1-4, pp 1-17. -
State-space modeling of water table fluctuations in switching regimes.
2004
Berendrecht, W.L., Heemink, A.W., Van Geer, F.C. & Gehrels, J.C., (2004); J. Hydrol. 292, 249-261 -
Aquifer Dynamics.
2003
Gehrels, J.C. & Gieske, A. (2003); Chapter 6 in: Simmers, I. (ed.), Understanding water in a dry environment (Hydrological processes in arid and semi-arid zones), IAH-IHP V UNESCO publication, Amsterdam, 341 pp. -
Designing tomorrow’s urban hydrological system.
2003
Buma, J.T., Gehrels, J.C.,Stuurman, R.J., 2003; In: Delft Cluster (ed.): Papers of the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Development & Management of the Subsurface, 5-7 Nov. 2003, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Delft Cluster, Delft, 2003. -
Impact of human activity on groundwater dynamics.
2001
Gehrels, J.C., Peters, N.E., Hoehn, E., Jensen, K., Leibundgut, C. Griffioen, J., Webb, B. & Zaadnoordijk, W.J. (eds.) (2001); IAHS Publ. No. 269, Wallingford, 369 pp. -
Groundwater level fluctuations; separation of natural from anthropogenic influences and determination of groundwater recharge in the Veluwe area, the Netherlands.
1999
Gehrels, J.C. (1999); Ph.D. thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 269 pp. -
Ground Penetrating Radar for determining volumetric soil water content; results of comparative measurements at two test sites
1997
Van Overmeeren, R.A., Sariowan, S.V. & Gehrels, J.C. (1997);. J. Hydrol., 197: 316–338. -
Decomposition of groundwater level fluctuations using transfer modelling for a range of shallow to deep unsaturated zones.
1994
Gehrels, J.C., Van Geer, F.C. & De Vries, J.J. (1994); J. Hydrol., 157: 105–138
Activities
| 2013 – present | Member | the Singapore Thought Leadership Team for High Density Living |
| 2012 – present | Co-founder | Knowledge Centre for Healthy Urban Living (formed by Utrecht University, RIVM, TNO, Deltares and KNMI) |
| 2012 – present | Deltares-representative | PIB Orange Goes Green, San Francisco, USA |
| 2011 – 2013 | Member | EU Interreg IVB ‘CityChlor’ Think Tank on tackling urban soil and groundwater contamination |
| 2008 – 2012 | Member | of the Program Committee Bodem Breed |
| 2010 – 2012 | SKB | SKB-Adviserend Bedrijfsleven en DOO-Kennisbasistafel |
| 2008 – 2011 | Board member | Technical Commission ‘Geothermal energy opportunities (Meer met Bodemenergie)’ |
| 1999–2005 | Member | editorial board of ‘Stromingen’ (Dutch Journal published by NHV) |
| 2000 – 2004 | Assistant professor | Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, responsible for 5th year M.Sc courses in Stochastic Hydrology and Geohydrology, and supervision of PhD candidates. |
| 1996-2006 | Guest lecturer | (groundwater recharge estimation) at UNESCO-IHE in Delft. |
| 1994 – 2004 | Guest lecturer | (groundwater modeling with MicroFEM) at GEOPLAN |
| 1990 – 1996 | Assistant researcher | Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Faculty of Earth Sciences, assisting in field courses at BSc level and supervising MSc students with M.Sc thesis. |