Bijker's father was an engineer involved in implementing the Delta Plan after a disastrous dike breach in the Netherlands in 1953 when young Bijker was two years old and later became deputy director of the Delft Hydraulics Laboratory.
O pai de Bijker foi un enxeñeiro involucrado no desenvolvemento do coñecido como Plan Delta, logo da ruptura dun dique nos Países Baixos en 1953, cando o rapaz Wiebe tiña dous anos, e máis tarde pasou a ser subdirector do Laboratorio Hidráulico de Delft.