Dzirciems lies in Pārdaugava between Iļģuciems, Āgenskalns and Ķīpsala, and it also has the grounds of educational and medical institutions. We help you choose a filter based on a water test, not on advertising.
Pārdaugava tap water: from the Daugava, not from boreholes
Rīgas ūdens states that most consumers on the left bank of the Daugava receive surface water from the Daugava. It is taken from the reservoir of the Riga hydroelectric power plant (Rīgas HES) and treated at the “Daugava” station at Bauskas iela 209: with reagents, settling, quartz sand and anthracite filters, and disinfection with ozone. Dzirciems is on the left bank, but the company does not publish separate quality figures for it.
City averages in 2025: hardness 1.82 mmol/l, iron 0.11 mg/l (limit value 0.20 mg/l), manganese 0.02 mg/l, pH 7.1. In 2025 Rīgas ūdens also renewed water mains in Dzirciems, as part of about 14.7 km of renewed pipes in 13 neighbourhoods.
When a flat needs a filter and when it does not
With averages like these, a whole-flat iron removal or softening unit is usually not needed, and we tell you so. A filter makes sense in three cases:
- You want a different taste for drinking water and tea: a reverse osmosis filter under the kitchen sink, from €250 with installation.
- The water comes with sand or rust particles that clog the tap aerators: a mechanical filter at the flat's inlet.
- You want less limescale in a coffee machine or water heater: a small softening cartridge for that appliance, not for the whole home.
If the water is brownish only in the morning or after a holiday, the cause is often the building's own pipes, where the water has stood, not the city network. You can check this with two samples: the first straight from the tap and the second after running the water. The difference shows where to look. Choosing a filter: water treatment; taking samples: water testing.
Pockets of private houses with their own well or spike well
In the 2025 report of Rīgas ūdens, Dzirciems is among the neighbourhoods where the water main or sewerage is unavailable or only partly available in some streets. The report does not name the streets. If your house gets its water from its own well or spike well (“spice” in Latvian), the Daugava water figures do not apply to it, because it is groundwater from your plot.
For water like this, the first step is a full water test with microbiology, from €95. If the laboratory finds coliforms or E. coli, the solution usually starts with the well itself: well cleaning, sealing the joints and disinfection, and a UV unit only if needed. If the water turns yellow after standing, that is dissolved iron, and the answer is iron removal for a private house. If there is a network in the street, also compare a connection: connecting to mains water.
For schools and medical institutions with their own source
Dzirciems has large educational and medical grounds. If one of these buildings has its own borehole, different rules apply to it than to a family house. Cabinet Regulation No. 547 on drinking water does not apply to an individual source used by fewer than 50 people or from which up to 10 m³ is abstracted per day, but this exemption does not apply if the water supplies a public building.
In that case, the regulation's monitoring and control requirements are binding on the source, and the limit values are compulsory, not reference figures. For a site like this, we help take samples, put the borehole head in order and choose treatment that matches the result.
Sources: Rīgas ūdens page “Water abstraction” (sources by bank of the Daugava and treatment at the “Daugava” station); Rīgas ūdens quality summary 2025; Rīgas ūdens 2025 contract performance report; Cabinet Regulation No. 547 of 26.09.2023, sub-point 4.5 and Annex 1. Checked 03.11.2026.
Access in Dzirciems
Dzirciema iela and Jūrmalas gatve link the neighbourhood with the centre and western Riga; traffic is heavy. Taking samples and installing filters need no heavy machinery, but for large institutional grounds we agree entry and the utility room with the property manager in advance.
Prices and neighbouring areas
Basic water test from €35, full test with microbiology from €95, reverse osmosis filter with installation from €250, filter installation labour from €40/h, iron removal unit for a private house from €600. All prices: prices.
Other Pārdaugava and nearby neighbourhoods: Iļģuciems, Āgenskalns, Ķīpsala and Zasulauks. Overview of the whole of Riga: Riga; all places, including the Riga region: where we work.