So detached houses by Lake Ķīšezers usually use their own well, spike well (“spice” in Latvian) or borehole. We install a new source, put an old one in order and choose a filter based on a laboratory water test.
The network for blocks of flats, your own source for everyone else
Jaunciems appears twice in the Rīgas ūdens report: on the general list where services are unavailable or only partly available in some streets, and with a note that the water main and sewerage here serve only blocks of flats. The report does not name the streets. The neighbourhood has detached houses, blocks of flats and industrial and warehouse sites, so neighbours may be in a completely different situation.
Along Jaunciema gatve, Rīgas ūdens finished building 5.4 km of water main in 2019, from building No. 326 to the junction with Gaileņu iela, which the company called its largest self-financed project of this kind. A trunk main along the road does not yet mean that a house on a side street can get a connection. That is shown by the Rīgas ūdens “Service availability” form or an address check on vaitevtovajag.lv.
If you are considering a connection: what to know before you do the sums
- Rīgas ūdens prepares technical conditions free of charge within 11 working days, if you owe the company nothing.
- If the street network has to be built or rebuilt, Rīgas ūdens organises the work at the applicant's expense under a connection agreement, and the fee is paid before the work.
- Those who connect to the same network within 8 years reimburse part of the costs to whoever financed the network.
- There is no co-financing (subsidy) for water main connections in Riga: Rīgas ūdens writes that none is provided for water supply connections.
If a connection needs a new street section, your own source often works out cheaper. We explain how to compare the two routes item by item on the page connecting to mains water.
Sources: Rīgas ūdens 2025 contract performance report; Rīgas ūdens announcement on the water main on Jaunciema gatve (2019); the Rīgas ūdens pages “Property without a connection” and “Municipal co-financing”; Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17, points 12–14. Checked 03.11.2026.
Spike well, borehole or dug well by Lake Ķīšezers
Jaunciems has Lake Ķīšezers, forests and lower-lying areas, where you have to reckon with damp and more difficult access. This does not mean that groundwater is shallow on every plot, but the source location matters a great deal here. We put it on the highest part of the plot, away from hollows where water stands in spring, and as far as possible from the septic tank and compost.
On 21.09.2026 Rīgas ūdens reminded owners that spike wells are usually 4–15 m deep and more exposed to rainwater and wastewater from the surroundings, while boreholes from about 30 m are safer, though more expensive. So for a home lived in all year where the water is drunk, we often recommend a borehole in Jaunciems. A spike well suits watering, household water or a seasonal house: spike well. A dug well (concrete-ring well) is chosen when you need a water reserve without electricity: well digging.
How deep the drilling has to go is decided by the layers the driller sees while drilling, not by wishes. Before the work we look at data from the nearest boreholes, but we promise neither the amount nor the quality of water in advance.
Licence and passport for a deeper borehole
For a house in Jaunciems, the borehole often ends up deeper than 20 m. Then the drilling company applies to the State Environmental Service (VVD) for a subsoil use licence before the work. The state fee is €35.57, and the licence is valid for up to one year. After drilling, the company prepares the borehole passport with the layer log and test pumping results, and the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC) approves it within 10 working days for €115.34. Both are state charges, not our prices. A spike well or well up to 20 m needs no licence if no more than 10 m³ is taken per day.
Sources: the law “On Subterranean Depths”, point 4 of the first paragraph of Section 9 and point 2 of the first paragraph of Section 11; Cabinet Regulation No. 696 on subsoil licences of 06.09.2011, points 13 and 16; Cabinet Regulation No. 1055, sub-point 2.13; Cabinet Regulation No. 752, point 2.1 of the Annex. Checked 03.11.2026.
Industrial and warehouse sites
For a business borehole, the limit is set not only by depth but also by the amount of water. If you need more than 10 m³ per day, a licence is needed even for a shallow borehole, water use needs a VVD permit, and natural resources tax is paid on abstraction above this limit. We explain how such a project is prepared on the page borehole for a business.
Water quality in your own source
Rīgas ūdens publishes average figures for its network, for example hardness of 1.82 mmol/l and iron of 0.11 mg/l in 2025, but these describe the network water, not your borehole. Rīgas ūdens does not publish iron or manganese figures for private wells, and in its announcement it recommends a laboratory chemical and microbiological check. We take the sample, deliver it to an accredited laboratory and explain the result. We recommend a filter only if the result calls for it: water treatment.
Prices and nearby places
In Jaunciems we work at Riga prices: borehole drilling from €65/m, a borehole ~30 m deep from €2,000 without the pump and the pipe run, fitting out from €500, spike well from €350. If you need the whole system up to the tap, we build it together: water supply system for a private house. Full price list: prices.
Neighbours: Aplokciems, Trīsciems, Suži and Vecmīlgrāvis. All of Riga: Riga; other places: where we work.