Municipal buildings such as schools, care homes and hospitals are required by Swedish building regulations (BBR) to maintain strict water temperature standards to prevent Legionella. Yet monitoring is often done manually, with infrequent spot checks and time-consuming paperwork. A smarter alternative is now being tested, with no drilling, cutting or shutdown required.
Sensors and AI Instead of Manual Checks
Swedish startup Tempivo AI has developed a solution where wireless sensors are mounted on the outside of pipes. Via NB-IoT (a variant of 5G/4G), data streams to a platform where AI interprets temperature changes in real time and identifies water activity: drawing, circulation or stagnant water.
The result is a continuous dashboard with automatic alerts when temperatures deviate from regulatory requirements – and automated documentation that replaces manual logs.
Tested in a Real Environment at RISE in Kista
Within the EU initiative CitCom TEF (Test and Experimentation Facility for Smart Cities), Tempivo's sensors have been installed in the canteen at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden in Kista – an environment with daily use of everything from kitchen taps to dishwashers. The system gives RISE ongoing data for water hygiene monitoring while serving as a concrete demonstration site for municipalities and regions who want to see the solution in action.
"Continuous temperature monitoring at the outlets now makes it possible to understand how Legionella risk actually arises in hot and cold water systems. It has previously been known that bacterial growth tends to occur in temperature zones that are not visible. It is only when you measure continuously that you truly see how a pipe network behaves," says Alex Jonsson, Senior Researcher, RISE.
Pilots are also underway at Micasa, the City of Stockholm's property company.
The Value for Municipalities and Regions
For property managers overseeing many buildings, the solution means Legionella risk can be monitored continuously – not just at isolated intervals – and regulatory compliance can be documented automatically. This is particularly valuable in buildings with uneven usage patterns, such as schools during holidays or care homes with many water outlets. This leads to safer water, less manual work, and better documentation for inspections and decisions.
"The pilot within CitCom TEF shows how we, together with RISE, can connect continuous measurement data to water hygiene in practice and create a new standard for regulatory compliance in the field. For us as a product company, it is valuable to gain research affiliation and clarify what is actually happening in the pipe systems — not just at spot checks — so that property owners and operations staff can act in time. The collaboration with RISE and CitCom gives us both credibility and concrete guidance on how we further develop Tempivo AI," concludes Thibault Helle, Founder and CEO, Tempivo.
