For new builds the situation is different, because in Riga they must connect to the city water main under certain conditions. We repair and clean wells, install spike wells and pumps, and help you work out when your own source is a choice and when it is only for the garden.
Torņakalns: historic houses and new projects
Torņakalns is a historic Pārdaugava neighbourhood with university campuses, the railway and large development areas. Its buildings include historic wooden and masonry houses, detached houses and new projects. New apartment buildings take water from the network, but in the streets of detached houses you can find both connected houses and houses with their own well.
In the 2025 contract performance report of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility), Torņakalns (written “Torņkalns” in the report) is listed among the neighbourhoods where services are unavailable or only partly available in certain areas or streets. The streets are not named, so check your address with the Rīgas ūdens “Service availability” form.
Source: Rīgas ūdens contract performance report for 2025, approved 23.03.2026 (rigasudens.lv). Checked 03.11.2026.
For a new build: when connection is mandatory
Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17 state that a new building that is not an auxiliary building and in which water is used must connect to the public system if there is one and a branch has been built up to the plot boundary. So if your new build's plot has a branch, your own source for drinking water is not an option, and a spike well can only be for the garden.
- If there is no network in the street or it has to be rebuilt, Rīgas ūdens organises the work under a connection agreement at the applicant's expense, and payment must be made before the work.
- The branch from the street main to the plot boundary becomes the property of Rīgas ūdens once it is put into service.
- If others connect to the same branch within eight years, they reimburse part of the cost to whoever financed the construction.
If a connection is impossible or disproportionately expensive, we install your own source and plan it together with the house design: water supply for a new house.
Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17 of 15.12.2017, point 5 (mandatory connection for new buildings), points 12–13 (network construction at the applicant's expense), point 14 (reimbursement within eight years), points 15–16 (the branch becomes the property of Rīgas ūdens). Source: likumi.lv/ta/id/296134, checked 03.11.2026.
An old dug well by a historic house
With an old well by a wooden house, we first look at what can only be seen in an emptied well. We check whether the concrete rings have shifted, whether the joints let in surface water, how thick the silt layer is and whether the bottom filter still works. That decides whether cleaning is enough or the well needs repair.
- Sealing the joints from the inside, especially in the upper rings, where water from the yard flows in after rain.
- Raising the top ring if the well has sunk into the ground over time, and a clay layer sloping away around it.
- A new, tight-fitting lid or a well house: well top and cover.
- Moving the pump from the well into the house if a surface pump stands in an unheated spot in winter.
- If the well runs dry in summer, deepening with a new ring at the bottom: well deepening.
Well deepening or repair costs from €150, cleaning with disinfection from €150. If the rings are badly damaged, it is often better value to install a spike well next to it rather than repair the old well. More: well repair.
Paperwork: a repair is not a new build
Water abstraction wells and boreholes are first-group engineering structures. Cabinet Regulation No. 253 (engineering structures) requires an explanatory memorandum (paskaidrojuma raksts) at the municipal building authority (būvvalde) for a new well or borehole, and an accepted explanatory memorandum is valid for five years. Under these regulations, no construction documents are needed to restore an existing well, but if the structure is demolished, a construction notice is submitted.
The State Environmental Service (VVD) infographics list different documents for a new source than the text of the regulations, so ask the building authority before a new spike well or borehole. No VVD licence is needed for a source up to 20 m from which no more than 10 m³ is taken per day.
Cabinet Regulation No. 253 of 09.05.2017 “Construction Regulations for Certain Engineering Structures”, points 6.¹, 6.² and 6.³ (likumi.lv/ta/id/291197); Cabinet Regulation No. 500 (General Construction Regulations), Annex 1, 3.1.14 and 3.1.32 (likumi.lv/ta/id/269069); the law “On Subterranean Depths”, point 2 of the first part of Section 11 (likumi.lv/ta/id/40249). Medium confidence, because the VVD infographics differ. Checked 03.11.2026.
Access by the railway and building sites
In Torņakalns, access is affected by the railway, the Mārupīte stream and construction on large development areas; the main routes are Vienības gatve, Jelgavas iela and the Stone Bridge (Akmens tilts). In the historic areas, gates and courtyards are often narrow. In your request, tell us where the well or the planned source is and whether a small vehicle can get to it. That is often enough for well work, but a borehole rig needs a wider access.
What we do in Torņakalns and for how much
- Well cleaning in Torņakalns: from €150 with disinfection.
- Well digging and repair: repair and deepening from €150; for a new well we price it after hearing the situation.
- Spike well in Torņakalns: from €350, pump extra.
- A well pump and pressure tank in the house's utility room.
- Well water testing: from €35, with microbiology from €95.
There is no call-out fee in Riga. All prices: prices.