Teika is a neighbourhood close to the centre along Brīvības gatve, with villas, low-rise and apartment buildings and offices. We clean and disinfect wells, install spike wells (“spice” in Latvian) for watering and take water samples for the laboratory.
What Rīgas ūdens says about the Teika water mains
In the 2025 report of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility), Teika is on the list of neighbourhoods where water services are unavailable or only partly available in some streets, but the streets and the type of missing network are not given. Part of Teika was in stage 6 of the Cohesion Fund project together with Ziepniekkalns and Imanta, where 3.57 km of water mains and 7.50 km of sewers were built across the three neighbourhoods. Rīgas ūdens publishes a Teika map and a list of streets on its website, so you can find your street there.
Municipal co-financing in the stage 6 area applies only to a sewer connection. No co-financing is provided in Riga for a water main connection, and Rīgas ūdens says so directly.
An old well in a villa garden: what to do with it
If the garden of a pre-war detached house still has a dug well from the days when the house had its own water, and the house is already connected to the water main, the well can serve the garden and is worth putting in order. In the emptied well we see the condition of the concrete rings and joints, and only then do we tell you whether it is worth saving.
- Inspection We measure the depth and the height of the water column, check the air at the bottom of the well and whether the old rings have shifted.
- Pumping out and cleaning We pump out the water, clean the walls, lift out the silt and the old bottom filter, and lay a new layer of gravel and pebbles.
- Joints and lid We seal small leaks straight away. If the rings have collapsed or shifted badly, we offer a well repair and agree its price before the work.
- Disinfection We treat the walls and the incoming water with a chlorine product and, after the contact time, pump the water out until the smell is gone.
Well cleaning with disinfection costs from €150. We describe the work in more detail on the well cleaning page.
Drinking or just watering
If you want to use the well water for more than the garden, first have it tested in full with microbiology, from €95. The laboratory compares the result with the values in Cabinet Regulation No. 547 on drinking water: E. coli and coliforms 0, nitrates 50 mg/l, ammonium 0.50 mg/l. These figures are not mandatory for a family well, but they are the safest benchmark. Near the city centre, shallow groundwater has many neighbours: streets, courtyards and underground utilities, so here the microbiology result matters more than any visual check.
If the test result is poor, use mains water for drinking and keep the well for watering. We describe sampling and how to read the result on the well water testing page.
If the well runs dry in summer
If the old well was dug too shallow in its day, in a dry August its level drops below the pump intake. If the rings are sound, the well can be deepened: in the emptied well we dig out soil below the bottom ring and sink one or more new rings, then lay a new bottom filter. Deepening costs from €150 and is best done at the end of summer or in autumn, when the groundwater level is at its lowest. More: well deepening.
A spike well for watering and one important prohibition
If there is no well, or it cannot be saved, a spike well can be installed for watering. It is done with small machinery, so it also suits a well-kept villa garden. The Rīgas ūdens tariff in September 2026 was €1.41/m³ excluding VAT, and watering a large garden all summer with mains water is not cheap.
Whether the water comes from a well or a spike well, the garden system must not be connected to the house plumbing. Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17 prohibit connecting a local source network to the city system, including through the building's internal network, and set a fine for breaking the rule. In practice that means a separate pump, separate pipes and a marked garden tap. Pump choice and flow: spike well for garden watering.
Sources: Rīgas ūdens 2025 contract performance report; the Rīgas ūdens page on EU fund projects (stage 6); Riga City Council binding regulations No. RD-25-22-sn; the Rīgas ūdens page on municipal co-financing; Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17, points 63.6 and 97; Cabinet Regulation No. 547 of 26.09.2023, sub-point 4.5 and Annex 1. Checked 03.11.2026.
Narrow courtyards and parking
Teika's main roads and dense blocks make parking difficult. Well cleaning needs space for a tripod with a winch by the well and for the van with the pumps as close to the gate as possible. In your request, tell us whether a vehicle can drive into the courtyard and where there is electricity, and we will agree a suitable day.
Prices and nearby areas
Well cleaning with disinfection from €150, well deepening or repair from €150, a spike well from €350, the full water test from €95. We add no call-out fee in Teika. The full price list: prices.
Nearby neighbourhoods: Centrs, Brasa, Čiekurkalns and Purvciems. Overview of Riga: Riga; a list of all places: where we work.