Boreholes, spike wells and wells in Bieriņi - old sources after connecting to the network

How the city water main came to Bieriņi

In the Rīgas ūdens overview of European Union fund projects, Bieriņi is named in stages 1 and 2, completed in 2006, and part of Bieriņi also in stage 4 (2011–2015), where the project area is called “Mārupe” and covers part of Bieriņi and Pleskodāle. Stage 4 built new water and sewer networks with branches up to the boundary of each plot.

A publication by Rīgas ūdens of 17.05.2022 quotes a Bieriņi resident whose family got its drinking water from a borehole before the networks were built and connected the house to the public water supply and sewerage in 2015. Bieriņi is not named in the 2025 report's list of neighbourhoods where services are unavailable or only partly available.

That is why Bieriņi has many houses with two water routes: the city inlet and an old borehole, spike well or well in the garden. If you do not know whether your address has a connection, Rīgas ūdens lets you check with its “Service availability” form.

An old borehole and the city water main: they must not be joined

Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17 forbid joining the network of a local water source, such as a water abstraction borehole, to the water main, including through the inlet or the building's internal plumbing. The regulations provide for a fine for a breach. The reason is simple: water from the borehole can flow into the city network through a valve left open by accident.

If you want to keep the old borehole for watering, it needs a completely separate pipe system: its own pump, its own tap in the garden and no cross-connection with the house's plumbing. Old systems often still have such a cross-connection from the time when the borehole was the main source. We find it and disconnect it.

Three routes for the old source

1. Keep it for the garden We flush the borehole, check the pump and the pressure switch, and rebuild the pipework so that it is independent of the house. If you need watering water that leaves no rust stains on the paving, we recommend a basic test first, because only a laboratory shows the iron.
2. Keep it in order as a backup If you want to use the borehole or well when the city water is cut off, keep it as a separate tap, not as a switchable source for the house. Then the water must also be tested microbiologically before drinking.
3. Decommission it If you will no longer use the borehole, Cabinet Regulation No. 696 on subsoil licences requires the user to mothball or decommission (plug) it, and a report is drawn up on the decommissioning. An abandoned, open borehole is a direct path for surface pollution to the deepest aquifer.

There is no fixed price for plugging. It depends on the borehole's depth and diameter, what has to be pulled out (an old pump, cable, stuck pipes), the borehole's construction and its material. Describe the borehole in the form and a specialist will give you a price: borehole decommissioning.

A spike well for watering a Bieriņi garden

Bieriņi is a green neighbourhood of detached houses with gardens along the Mārupīte stream, and city water used for watering goes through the meter. That is why some houses without an old borehole install a new spike well just for the garden. A surface pump is enough for it, and for watering the water quality matters less than the quantity.

• We choose a spot that can be reached with tools and where the city inlet and cables do not run underground.
• In the lower stretches near the Mārupīte the water may be closer to the surface, but we check this at each spot rather than assume it.
• If the spike well water turns brown after standing, a mechanical filter is enough for the watering system, but rust stains may be left on paving and walls.
• The watering tap must stay unconnected to the city water main, just like the old borehole.

More about the pump and the amount of water: spike well for garden watering.

Buying a house in Bieriņi with its own source

If the seller offers a house with a borehole, ask for the borehole passport. Passports are kept in the State Geological Fund, and the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC) can issue a certified copy if one has been prepared. Also check that the borehole is not joined to the house's plumbing that is connected to the city network.

Before the purchase we recommend a full water test from the borehole tap if you plan to use it. We take the sample, deliver it to an accredited laboratory and explain whether the borehole is worth keeping: borehole water testing.

A connection not yet made

It can happen that the branch has been built up to your plot boundary, but the house still takes water from its own source. The former stage 4 areas used to have co-financing for water main and sewer connections (Riga City Council binding regulations No. 67), but these lost force on 01.04.2026. Riga now co-finances only the sewer connection; Rīgas ūdens writes: “No co-financing is provided for water supply system connections.”

If you choose to keep your own source, it must be safe: borehole cleaning from €400, a pump replacement and, if needed, a filter. If you choose to connect, the old source stays for the garden or is decommissioned. A comparison: connecting to mains water.

Prices for jobs in Bieriņi

• Spike well installation in Bieriņi: from €350, pump separate.
• Boreholes in Bieriņi: cleaning from €400, fitting out from €500, a new borehole from €65/m.
• Well cleaning for an old dug well (concrete-ring well): from €150 with disinfection.
• Water testing: from €35, with microbiology from €95.

There is no call-out fee in Riga. All prices: prices.