A business borehole needs more documents than a family home, and they have to be planned before drilling. We drill and equip boreholes, prepare borehole data for permits and install filters based on a water test.
Jaunmīlgrāvis: the port, industry and housing
Jaunmīlgrāvis is a historically formed part of Mīlgrāvis with port and residential functions. It has blocks of flats, historic low-rise housing, port and industrial facilities, warehouses and transport companies. Access is shaped by Mīlgrāvja iela, the railway and the port access roads, and nearby are Lake Ķīšezers and the Mīlgrāvis canal.
The 2025 contract performance report of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility) lists “Mīlgrāvis” among the neighbourhoods where services are unavailable or only partly available in some areas or streets. The report does not name the streets, and from it one cannot say for sure whether, or which part of, Jaunmīlgrāvis it covers. Check your address with the Rīgas ūdens “Service availability” form.
Source: Rīgas ūdens 2025 contract performance report, approved 23.03.2026 (rigasudens.lv). The report uses the name “Mīlgrāvis”; the source does not specify whether it fully matches the territory of Jaunmīlgrāvis. Checked 03.11.2026.
A borehole for a business: what to arrange before drilling
A business borehole is usually deeper than 20 m, so a subsoil use licence from the State Environmental Service (VVD) is needed before the work. The drilling company applies for it, not the client, and the state fee is €35.57. The application includes a work programme, the geological and technical section of the borehole and a land boundary plan showing the borehole location.
In the port area, land is often leased. If the licence applicant is not the landowner, VVD requires a copy of an agreement with the landowner on subsoil use. It is worth settling this with the lessor before you plan the drilling date.
- Water use permit from VVD: if abstraction is 10 m³ per day or more, or the water supplies more than 50 people. The application is submitted at least 60 days before operations start; state fee €78.26.
- The permit application includes maps, proof of land use rights, an expert opinion and the borehole passport.
- The permit is valid for the whole period of operation and is reviewed every seven years.
- If more than 100 m³ per day is planned, a groundwater deposit passport is also needed.
After drilling, the drilling company prepares the borehole passport, and the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC) approves it within 10 working days for €115.34. Groundwater may be used only with an approved passport. More: borehole for a business and borehole passport.
Sources: the law “On Subterranean Depths”, the ninth paragraph of Section 10 and point 2 of the first paragraph of Section 11 (likumi.lv/ta/id/40249); VVD FAQ, question 9 (vvd.gov.lv); Cabinet Regulation No. 696 on subsoil licences, points 11, 13, 16, 22 and 23 (likumi.lv/ta/id/236750); Cabinet Regulation No. 1055, sub-point 2.13 (likumi.lv/ta/id/150411); Cabinet Regulation No. 736 on water use permits, sub-point 2.1, points 3–6 and point 30 (likumi.lv/ta/id/82574); Cabinet Regulation No. 469, point 2 (likumi.lv/ta/id/232277); Cabinet Regulation No. 752, point 2.1 of the Annex (likumi.lv/ta/id/259619). Checked 03.11.2026.
Process water or drinking water
Before the borehole design, we find out what the water is needed for. For process water, for example for washing or a production process, the quality requirements are set by the process itself and the equipment manufacturer. If the borehole water is used for drinking and supplies a public building, or is used by 50 or more people and abstraction averages more than 10 m³ per day, the compulsory requirements and monitoring of Cabinet Regulation No. 547 on drinking water apply to it.
After the first water test we choose the treatment: iron removal if iron or manganese is above the limit values (200 µg/l and 50 µg/l), softening if hardness affects the equipment, and UV disinfection for drinking water. For business consumption, the units are larger than for a family home, so we draw up the estimate based on consumption and the test. More: water treatment.
Cabinet Regulation No. 547 of 26.09.2023, sub-point 4.5 and Annex 1 (likumi.lv/ta/id/345861). Checked 03.11.2026.
For low-rise houses and flats
In the historic low-rise housing, if a house has no connection, we assess a spike well or a borehole; if it has one, a spike well can serve the garden with a separate pipe. In flats, the water comes from the city network, and there it is usually a question of a drinking water filter at the kitchen tap. If you do not know what to filter, start with water testing.
Jobs and prices in Jaunmīlgrāvis
- Boreholes in Jaunmīlgrāvis: private house borehole from €65/m; for a business borehole, an estimate based on the design, diameter and depth.
- Water treatment in Jaunmīlgrāvis: iron removal from €600, water softener from €600 at private house scale.
- Water testing: from €35, with microbiology from €95.
- Borehole equipment: from €500, pump separate.
- Spike well for a low-rise house or garden: from €350.
State charges (licence €35.57, passport approval €115.34, permit €78.26) are not our prices, and we show them separately in the quote. There is no call-out fee in Riga. All prices: prices.