Spike wells, boreholes and wells in Dārziņi - a neighbourhood without mains water

Dārziņi has no water main: what Rīgas ūdens says

In the 2025 contract performance report of Rīgas ūdens (approved 23.03.2026), Dārziņi is named among three Riga neighbourhoods with more than 1,000 residents that have neither mains water nor sewerage. The report gives the population of Dārziņi as 4,265. A pre-design study of the networks began in 2025 and will run until 2027.

A Rīgas ūdens publication of 30.01.2025 on the Riga City Council decision to redirect dividend funds to water management in Dārziņi says that the “initial estimate is 39.7 million euros” for building the networks, and that the sum will still be refined. The chair of the Housing and Environment Committee is quoted there as saying that, in the “most pessimistically optimistic” forecasts, the project could be carried out by 2039.

In practice, this means that a house you buy or build in Dārziņi now will take its water from its own source for many years to come. Investing in a good source and pump here is not a temporary fix. So we choose the source by how you will use the house: all year or only in summer, for drinking or for watering.

Spike well or borehole in Dārziņi: depth matters most

A Rīgas ūdens explanation of 21.09.2026 on private wells (published on lvportals.lv) says 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 a safer, though more expensive, solution. The same text stresses that the owner is responsible for the quality of water from their own source.

In Dārziņi this needs particular attention, because there is no sewer network and every plot has its own wastewater system. Rīgas ūdens points out that leaking cesspits and septic tanks can pollute groundwater. A spike well and a dug well draw from the upper groundwater layer, so we place them as far as possible from your own and your neighbours' wastewater systems.

• A spike well suits: garden watering, a summer house or a home where drinking water is bought, if the ground is sandy and the water level is no deeper than 7–8 m from the pump.
• A borehole suits: a home lived in all year where the water is drunk, especially on a small plot where the spike well cannot be placed far from wastewater.
• An existing dug well: if it gives enough water, cleaning, sealing the joints and a water test are often enough, rather than a new source.

Nobody can promise the amount or quality of water on a particular plot in advance. Before the work, we ask how deep the neighbours' sources are and whether they run dry in a dry summer.

Garden houses and seasonal buildings

Dārziņi is built up with detached houses, gardens and seasonal buildings. For a house used only in summer, the system has to be planned so that it can be drained in autumn. It needs a pump station with a drain tap, a pipe sloping back towards the spike well or pump, and a non-return valve that can be opened. If the house is not heated in winter, the water in the pressure tank and pump freezes and splits the casing.

How to install a spike well for a seasonal house: spike well for a summer house. What to do in autumn: winterising the water supply system. If you are converting the house into a permanent home, we build the whole system together, from the source to the tap: water supply system for a private house.

Near the Daugava and the reservoir

Dārziņi lies by the Daugava and the reservoir of the Riga hydroelectric power plant (Rīgas HES), and the neighbourhood has lower-lying stretches. This does not mean that every plot floods, but we take it into account when choosing the source location and design.

• If surface water has ever flooded a well or the top of a spike well, we clean and disinfect the well, and then recommend a full water test with microbiology.
• A borehole head should not sit in a pit where water can collect. The building code allows a borehole head in a shaft only when flooding is completely ruled out, so on low ground we choose an above-ground solution or a carefully sealed caisson.
• On a dug well, we leave the top ring above ground and build a clay layer around it that slopes away from the well.

On choosing a caisson: borehole caisson. On water after a flood: well disinfection.

Documents for a new source in Dārziņi

A spike well or borehole up to 20 m deep, from which no more than 10 m³ of water is taken per day, does not need a subsoil licence from the State Environmental Service (VVD). If a borehole goes deeper than 20 m, the drilling company applies for the licence before the work; the state fee is €35.57. After drilling, the company prepares the borehole passport, and the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC) approves it within 10 working days for €115.34.

Wells and boreholes are first-group engineering structures, and Cabinet Regulation No. 253 (engineering structures) requires an explanatory memorandum (paskaidrojuma raksts) at the municipal building authority (būvvalde) for a new structure of this kind. VVD infographics describe the steps differently, so check with the building authority before the work. More: borehole registration.

What we do in Dārziņi and what it costs

• Spike well installation in Dārziņi: from €350, usually €350–650, without the pump and the connection to the house.
• Borehole in Dārziņi: drilling from €65/m, a borehole ~30 m deep from €2,000 without the pump and the pipe run; fitting out from €500.
• Well cleaning in Dārziņi: from €150 with disinfection; deepening or repair from €150.
• Pump installation: for a submersible pump from €200, pump separate.
• Water testing: basic from €35, with microbiology from €95; the test is done by an accredited laboratory.
• Iron removal: filter with installation from €600, if the water test calls for it.

Prices are the same as in the rest of Riga, and there is no call-out fee in Dārziņi. The final sum depends on the depth, the ground and access for machinery along local streets from the Maskavas iela side. Worked examples: prices.