Protection zone around a well: legal requirements and good practice

What the Protection Zone Law says

The key sentence is in Section 9, paragraph two of the Protection Zone Law. “Protection zones are not set for boreholes, wells and springs that individual water users (private individuals) use for their own needs in the household or to obtain drinking water”. The condition is that the area “has been landscaped and infiltration of waste water and pollution of the water have been prevented”. Cabinet Regulation No. 43 on the methodology for determining protection zones repeats the same rule.

The conditions at the end of the section matter. The exemption is not permission to do nothing: the well must be kept so that waste water and surface dirt cannot get into it. LVĢMC also states that for a private individual's borehole for their own needs, no protection zone calculation is needed for the borehole passport.

Where protection zones are mandatory

Protection zones are set around the boreholes of businesses, villages and public water supply systems. The width of the strict regime zone depends on how thick the low-permeability layers covering the aquifer are:

In the strict regime zone, any economic activity other than running the water abstraction site is prohibited, and the zone must be fenced. In the bacteriological zone it is prohibited to place waste water treatment plants and storage tanks, filtration fields, manure stores, cemeteries and fuel depots, or to leave boreholes that have not been plugged. If your plot is next to a village water intake, these zones may affect you too, so check the spatial plan.

Distance from a well to a septic tank

We found no minimum distance in metres in national regulations between a private well or borehole and a septic tank, holding tank or infiltration field. We checked Cabinet Regulation No. 384 on decentralised sewerage systems and the building codes LBN 222-15, LBN 223-15 and LBN 008-14. If someone quotes a specific number of metres “set by law”, ask them for the source.

Distance requirements may be in the municipality's spatial plan or binding regulations, or in the septic tank manufacturer's instructions. Before you build a new well or waste water system, ask the municipal building authority (būvvalde) what applies in your area. Good practice without numbers:

• the well higher up the slope and upstream of the septic tank, barn and compost in the groundwater flow, not downstream of them;
• as far as possible from waste water systems, the road, the car park and any place where fuel is stored;
• rainwater from the roof and the yard led away from the well;
• a septic tank of watertight construction with regular maintenance, so that waste water does not soak into the ground.

What the owner should do to keep the well protected

1. The top The top ring must be above ground, with a tight-fitting cover. Around the well you need a layer of clay and a slope away from the well, so that surface water does not run in. If the top is in poor condition: well top and cover.
2. Joints The joints between the upper rings must be sealed, because melting snow and rainwater get in through them in spring. If the rings have shifted: well repair.
3. Unused boreholes An old borehole without a pump and a cover is a path for pollution into the deeper layer. It is decommissioned: borehole decommissioning.
4. After flooding If the well has been flooded by high water or rainwater, it is pumped out, cleaned and disinfected: well disinfection.
5. Testing Have the water tested in a laboratory, especially if there are waste water systems or a barn nearby, and after every major job in the well.

What a water test shows

Cabinet Regulation No. 547 on drinking water does not apply to a source used by fewer than 50 people or from which no more than 10 m³ a day is taken on average. Laboratory results are still compared with the limit values in this regulation. Pollution from the surface and from waste water usually shows up in these indicators:

• E. coli and coliform bacteria: limit value 0;
• nitrates: 50 mg/l;
• ammonium: 0.50 mg/l.

In a University of Latvia study of 356 household wells across Latvia (2022), intestinal enterococci were found in 82.6% of wells and E. coli in 9.6% of wells. Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility) reminds people that clear, good-tasting water does not mean it is free of microorganisms. How we take the sample and what the results mean: well water testing.

How much it costs to put a well in order and test it

We take the sample ourselves, deliver it to an accredited laboratory and explain the result. If the test shows bacteria or nitrates, we start by finding the source and putting the well in order: well cleaning. All prices: prices.