Advice on spike wells, boreholes and wells

Rules and documents

• Borehole registration and rules for drilling a borehole. When you need a VVD licence, who requests it and which documents must be prepared before and after drilling.
• Borehole passport. What is written in the passport, who prepares it, how LVĢMC approves it and what to do if an old borehole has no passport.
• Borehole map. Where to look for geological data on boreholes and what you can learn from it before drilling.
• Natural resources tax for a borehole. When the tax must be paid, what the rates are and why a family house usually does not have to pay it.
• Protection zone around a well. What the Protection Zone Law sets for your own well and borehole, and what it means when choosing a spot near a septic tank.
• Connecting to mains water. How connection works in Riga and the Riga region and how to compare it with your own source.

How to choose a source

• Spike well or borehole. Depth, amount of water, pump, price and maintenance side by side in one table.
• Borehole or dug well. When a dug well is enough and when it is worth drilling deeper.
• Dug well or spike well. Two groundwater sources: where each fits and what maintenance means.

How we put this advice together

We check the rules in official sources: likumi.lv and the websites of the State Environmental Service and the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC). Each rule has a link and the date it was checked. If the authorities' explanations differ from the text of the regulations, we say so openly and recommend checking the question with the municipal building authority (būvvalde) or the relevant authority.

If the advice does not solve your situation, send a request: spike well, boreholes, well cleaning or water testing. See the prices on the prices page.