In the 2025 report of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility), Bolderāja is among the neighbourhoods where water services are unavailable or only partly available in certain areas or streets. The neighbourhood is surrounded by the Buļļupe, the Daugava and low-lying coastal land, so here you often have to think not only about where to get water but also about how to protect the source from surface water.
Three situations in one neighbourhood
- Blocks of flats and some private houses are connected to the Rīgas ūdens network. There the question is a filter or a tap water test, not a source.
- Houses where stage 4 of the Cohesion Fund project (2011–2015) built a water main and sewer with a branch up to the plot boundary or the red line, but the owner has not yet connected and uses their own well or spike well.
- Streets or areas where, according to the Rīgas ūdens report, services are missing or only partly available. The report does not name the streets and does not separate the water main from sewerage, so check your specific address with the Rīgas ūdens “Service availability” form.
Sources: the Rīgas ūdens contract performance report for 2025 (approved 23.03.2026) and “Projects co-financed by European Union funds” (stage 4), rigasudens.lv. Checked 03.11.2026.
After high water a well must be cleaned and disinfected
If a dug well (concrete-ring well) has been flooded by spring high water, long rain or water from lower ground, surface water gets into the well with everything it picks up on the way. The water may look clear, but do not drink it until the well has been cleaned and disinfected and the water has been tested at a laboratory.
- Pumping out and cleaning We pump the well dry, clean the walls and the bottom and replace the bottom filter. For a flooded well this step matters more than the disinfection itself, because the silt holds what chlorine does not destroy.
- Checking the joints In the empty well we can see which joints let surface water seep in. We seal the upper joints, because that is where water gets in first.
- Disinfection We treat the well and the incoming water with a chlorine product, then pump it out until the smell is gone. Cleaning with disinfection costs from €150.
- Test Once the well has filled up again, a full test with microbiology (from €95) shows whether the water is safe to drink.
It is worth building a clay layer around the well's top ring, sloping away from the well, and fitting a tight lid. More: well disinfection and well top and cover.
A well, spike well or borehole on low ground
In September 2026 Rīgas ūdens reminded people that spike wells are usually 4–15 m deep and are affected by rainwater and nearby wastewater, while boreholes from about 30 m deep are safer, if more expensive, sources. If your plot is low and wet in spring, this difference matters more than on higher ground.
On low ground we place a spike well or well at the highest possible point of the plot and further from wastewater. For a borehole, the building code requires the borehole head to be protected from pollution, and it may be placed in an underground chamber only if flooding is completely ruled out. That is why in a flood-prone spot we more often choose a pitless adapter, through which the pipe leaves below the frost depth, and leave the top of the borehole above ground. On both solutions: borehole caisson.
A borehole up to 20 m deep from which up to 10 m³ is taken per day needs no licence from the State Environmental Service (VVD). For a deeper borehole the drilling company applies for the licence (state fee €35.57), and after the work the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC) approves the borehole passport (€115.34).
Sources: lvportals.lv of 21.09.2026 on the Rīgas ūdens explanation; building code LBN 222-15 “Water Supply Structures”, requirements for the borehole top in points 65–71 (chamber only if flooding is ruled out) (likumi.lv/ta/id/274989); the law “On Subterranean Depths”, point 2 of the first paragraph of Section 11 (likumi.lv/ta/id/40249); Cabinet Regulation No. 1055, sub-point 2.13; Cabinet Regulation No. 752, point 2.1 of the Annex. Checked 03.11.2026.
Stage 4 branch connections: no water co-financing since 01.04.2026
Bolderāja was one of the areas where Riga City Council binding regulations No. 67 (2018) co-financed a combined water main and sewer connection: after 01.10.2024 up to 60%, at most €3,000. These regulations lost force on 1 April 2026. Now only the general support for a sewer connection applies in Bolderāja (€1,000–2,000 depending on pipe length), and there is no co-financing for a water connection.
If there is already a stage 4 branch at your boundary, compare the cost of connecting with putting your own source in order: a new pump, a filter and regular cleaning. If you stay with the well or spike well, it must be completely separate from the city network. How connecting works: connecting to mains water.
Sources: Riga City Council binding regulations No. 67 of 19.12.2018 (likumi.lv/ta/id/304470); Riga City Council binding regulations RD-23-207-sn (likumi.lv/ta/id/343520); lvportals.lv on the changed co-financing conditions in Bieriņi, Pleskodāle, Katlakalns, Bišumuiža and Bolderāja; Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17, sub-point 63.6. Checked 03.11.2026.
In blocks of flats and near the port
For a flat on city water, a reverse osmosis filter in the kitchen (from €250) is usually enough, or a water softener if limescale bothers you. If there is an industrial or port area nearby and you take water from your own source, extended parameters can be added to the basic test. We will recommend which ones for your situation: water testing.
Access and prices
Bolderāja's main road to the rest of the city is Daugavgrīvas šoseja, but Bolderāja is Riga territory, so there is no call-out fee and the prices are the same as elsewhere in the city. In your request, say whether the plot tends to be wet in spring and whether machinery can drive onto it. All prices: prices.