Dreiliņi is not on the list in the 2025 report of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility) of neighbourhoods with missing or partial services, so the network already reaches many plots. But whether the service pipe runs right up to your boundary decides whether a new house must connect to the city water main or can have its own source. A business with its own borehole has further rules.
A new house: when connection is compulsory
Riga's binding regulations No. 17 require a new building that uses water (except auxiliary buildings) to be connected to the public system if it is available and the service pipe has been built up to the plot boundary. In that case, your own borehole for drinking water is not an option. If there is no service pipe, you can request technical conditions from Rīgas ūdens: they are prepared within 11 working days and free of charge.
If the street network still has to be built, Rīgas ūdens organises the work at the applicant's expense under a connection agreement, and the fee is paid before the work. If others connect to this section within 8 years, they reimburse part of the cost to the first funder. After commissioning, the service pipe up to the plot boundary becomes the property of Rīgas ūdens. We compare, for your address, whether your own source is the better deal for now.
Sources: Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17 of 15.12.2017, points 5 and 12–16 (likumi.lv/ta/id/296134); Rīgas ūdens, “Connecting a property without a connection” (rigasudens.lv/lv/objekta-bez-piesleguma). Checked 03.11.2026.
If the new build will have its own source
It is worth choosing the water source for a new house before the foundations are poured. Then a sleeve for the water inlet can be left in the foundations, a utility room planned for the pump, pressure tank and filters, and a pipe route chosen that will not run under the driveway. If the borehole is made after the yard has already been paved, the work becomes more expensive and more complicated.
- Borehole: from €65/m, a ~30 m borehole from €2,000 without the pump and the pipe run. Usually the safest source for a home lived in all year.
- Spike well (“spice” in Latvian): from €350, if the ground is sand and the water level is no deeper than 7–8 m from the pump.
- Documents: a well and a borehole are first-group engineering structures; a new structure needs an explanatory memorandum (paskaidrojuma raksts) at the municipal building authority (būvvalde). For a borehole deeper than 20 m, the drilling company applies for the licence.
Everything about planning, step by step: water supply for a new house and water supply system for a private house.
Sources: Cabinet Regulation No. 500 (General Construction Regulations), Annex 1, sub-points 3.1.14 and 3.1.32 (likumi.lv/ta/id/269069); Cabinet Regulation No. 253 (engineering structures), sub-point 1 of point 6² (likumi.lv/ta/id/291197); the law “On Subterranean Depths”, point 2 of the first paragraph of Section 11. Checked 03.11.2026.
For a warehouse, shop or factory: a borehole with a permit
For a business with its own borehole, the limits are set by the amount of water and the number of people. A water use permit from the State Environmental Service (VVD) is needed if you abstract 10 m³ per day or more, or if more than 50 people receive the water. The application is submitted at least 60 days before operations start; the state fee is €78.26.
If abstraction exceeds 10 m³ per day, you also pay natural resources tax: €0.02, €0.041 or €0.05/m³ depending on the value of the groundwater. A business borehole must not be connected to the city water main either, if the building has both sources. More: borehole for a business.
Sources: Cabinet Regulation No. 736 on water use permits of 23.12.2003, sub-point 2.1 and point 3 (likumi.lv/ta/id/82574); Cabinet Regulation No. 469, point 2 (likumi.lv/ta/id/232277); the Natural Resources Tax Law, Section 19 and Annex 2 (likumi.lv/ta/id/124707); Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17, sub-point 63.6. Checked 03.11.2026.
A new lawn: a spike well for watering
In the first years, a new house's lawn needs a lot of water. A 500 m² lawn needs about 5 m³ for 10 mm in one go, and that soon adds up on the meter. A spike well for garden watering is possible even for a house connected to the city water main, as long as it has its own pipe, its own pump and no connection to the house's internal network.
If you are planning an automatic watering system, tell us before the spike well is installed: we choose the pump by how much the spike well gives when pumped. More: spike well for garden watering.
Water in a new flat or a house on city water
Rīgas ūdens states that on the right bank, groundwater from Baltezers and Zaķumuiža enters the network, and its iron and manganese content is reduced before supply. So if your water comes from the city network, whole-house iron removal is usually unnecessary. If limescale bothers you, a water softener helps (from €600), and for drinking water in the kitchen a reverse osmosis filter (from €250). Choosing after a water test: water treatment.
Source: Rīgas ūdens, “Water abstraction” (rigasudens.lv/lv/udens-ieguve). Checked 03.11.2026.
Building sites and access
Dreiliņi's roads to the rest of Riga and the Riga region are Lubānas iela, Biķernieku iela and the roads along the city boundary, so a drilling rig can get here without major restrictions. On a building site, what matters more is where the materials and the crane stand and where the access road will be built. We agree the borehole location with the site manager so that the borehole does not end up under the future driveway. Prices are the same as in the rest of Riga: prices.