Spike wells, wells and filters in Jugla - the private-house quarter between the Šmerlis forest and the Strazdupīte

What has changed in Jugla's private-house streets

Jugla is a large eastern neighbourhood by Lake Jugla and Brīvības gatve: blocks of flats, detached houses, shopping facilities and schools. The blocks of flats are on the city network. For the private-house quarter, Rīgas ūdens set up a separate project and writes that the water main is already there in many places, but there is no sewerage.

The network extension contract included Slēpotāju, Krosa, Tramplīna, Silciema, Murjāņu, Tūjas, Bobsleja, Skeletona, Pāles, Umurgas and Biatlona iela: about 2 km of water main and more than 4 km of sewer for more than 140 households. The Rīgas ūdens 2025 report says that construction in Jugla has been completed, but the neighbourhood is still on the list of neighbourhoods where services are only partly available in other streets. Whether your address is on the network is shown by the Rīgas ūdens “Service availability” form.

After connection: what to do with the old well or borehole

When a house is connected to the city water main, the old source does not go anywhere. Riga City Council binding regulations No. 17 forbid connecting the network of a local water source, such as a water abstraction borehole, to the water main, including through the inlet or the house's internal network; a fine of up to 28 fine units is set for a breach. So the old system has to be disconnected or rebuilt, not left separated only by a non-return valve.

1. Keep it for the garden The source becomes a separate watering system with its own pump and a tap outdoors or in the greenhouse. It no longer has any connection to the house pipes.
2. Clean and restore the well If silt has built up in a dug well (concrete-ring well), we clean and disinfect it (from €150), and the water is fine for watering and non-drinking uses.
3. Decommission the borehole If you will not use the borehole, Cabinet Regulation No. 696 on subsoil licences requires it to be mothballed or decommissioned, and a report is drawn up. We price the plugging after hearing the situation: borehole decommissioning.

Before choosing, it helps to know one figure: the Rīgas ūdens tariff is €1.41 per m³ excluding VAT. If you water a lot in summer, the old source saves money on the garden. If the garden is small, decommissioning may be simpler than maintaining a second system.

A watering spike well in Jugla

If there is no old source or it is in poor condition, a new spike well can be installed for watering. Watering does not need drinking water quality, so filters are usually not needed, and a spike well with a surface pump is the cheapest option: spike well from €350, usually €350–650.

Being near the lake and the Strazdupīte does not mean the water will definitely be shallow for a spike well. Neighbours' sources and the first drilling show this, and we do not promise it in advance. We choose the spike well location so that it does not get in the way of the new water service pipe or the sewer, if one is built later: before the work we find out where pipes already run underground. More: spike well for garden watering.

For homes that still have only their own source

In streets where a connection is not yet possible, your own source remains the main one. The Riga rules do not require an existing house to connect: connection is compulsory for new buildings if there is a network in the street and a service pipe up to the plot boundary. What matters is that the old source gives safe water.

In September 2026 Rīgas ūdens stated that more than 8,000 Riga residents have still not connected to the public networks, and it invites people to check their address with the vaitevtovajag.lv tool. If the tool shows that a connection is possible for your house, compare it with maintaining your own source; if not, put the existing source in order.

• Well cleaning in Jugla: from €150, with disinfection; after cleaning we recommend a water test.
• Well water testing: basic from €35, with microbiology from €95.
• Water pump replacement or installation: submersible pump installation from €200.
• Water treatment: iron removal or a water softener with installation from €600, if the water test calls for it.

In Jugla's blocks of flats

Jugla is on the right bank of the Daugava, and Rīgas ūdens states that right-bank consumers receive groundwater from Baltezers and Zaķumuiža, where iron and manganese are reduced before supply. So a whole-building filter is usually not needed in a flat. If the taste or limescale bothers you, a reverse osmosis filter in the kitchen does the job, with installation from €250.

Nearby neighbourhoods

Similar questions about the new network and the old source come up in Berģi, Brekši and Bukulti, while Mežciems has more blocks of flats. All neighbourhoods: Riga.