Monitoring Water Safety at SAIL Amsterdam 2025
How Capgemini, MTD, Blockbax and The Things Industries, piloted an IoT-enabled water monitoring solution powered by LoRaWAN technology at Europe’s largest free event
Bringing Smart Water Solutions to SAIL Amsterdam 2025
Every five years, Amsterdam transforms into a world-class maritime festival during the SAIL event. Europe's largest free event attracts millions of visitors to witness the hundreds of tall ships that dock. For the 2025 edition, Capgemini joined as a sponsor and technology partner, collaborating with MTD, experts in temporary water infrastructure, The Things Industries which provided the secure, long-range wireless network required to explore how a centralized, sensor-driven approach can support water safety at an event of this magnitude.
Project objective: increase insight and actively protect water safety for the temporary water infrastructure of Sail 2025
Events like SAIL Amsterdam require extensive, distributed pipe networks to transport drinking water throughout the venue. Summer temperatures, fluctuating usage, and long pipe runs can cause water in the pipes to warm up. If temperatures rise too high, water quality can be compromised. Traditionally, teams rely on local inspections, manual flushing, and on-site expertise to ensure safe conditions.
This made SAIL Amsterdam an ideal environment to test a more uniform approach to operational insight and proactive control.
From fragmented observations to centralized operational intelligence
Capgemini supported MTD in its transition from local, manual monitoring to centralized operational intelligence—a single platform where operations teams have a complete, real-time overview of temperature trends across the network. In addition, smart controls were implemented to automatically flush the system if temperatures rise too high.
Key requirements included:
- Low-maintenance connectivity solutions, suitable for temporary environments.
- Energy-efficient sensors that can operate over long pipe runs.
- One platform to interpret data, identify risks and support decisions.
- A mechanism to act proactively when temperature limits are exceeded.
To achieve this, we have brought together the following parties:
-MTD equipped their existing systems with additional sensors and remotely controlled valves. -The Things Industries provided seamless, long-distance connectivity across the complex event layout. -Blockbax translated raw temperature measurements into actionable insights, with intelligent thresholds and automatic control. -Capgemini integrated all elements into a single, cohesive operational layer, providing the MTD team with a unified view of the entire temporary water network.
Rather than teams relying on multiple tools, siloed measurements, or manual procedures, the pilot focused on providing a single point of operational overview, where context, trends, alerts, and actions come together.
Result: a strong step towards data-driven water safety
During SAIL Amsterdam 2025, water temperatures were successfully monitored across the entire event site, providing MTD with real-time insight into the conditions. The pilot also tested automated flushing at two locations, demonstrating that targeted interventions can be implemented at the right time and in the right place.
The result showed how a centralized operational intelligence layer helps to:
- To be less dependent on manual checks.
- To retain and scale expertise.
- Early detection of temperature increases.
- To provide consistent, terrain-wide situational awareness.
The pilot now serves as the basis for future implementations and further innovation in the field of temporary water safety.
Translated from original article by Capgemini
