In the 2025 report of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility), Trīsciems is one of three neighbourhoods with neither mains water nor sewerage, and the water main is available only on Jaunciema gatve. That is why we install new spike wells (“spice” in Latvian) here from €350 and boreholes from €65/m, fit pumps, clean wells and choose filters after a water test.
Water in Trīsciems: almost every house has its own source
The Rīgas ūdens contract performance report for 2025 (approved 23.03.2026) names Trīsciems together with Dārziņi and Mangaļsala: neighbourhoods with more than a thousand residents where mains water and sewerage are not yet available. On Trīsciems, the report has one specific sentence: water supply services are currently available only on Jaunciema gatve. We found no water main expansion project for Trīsciems in the Rīgas ūdens publications.
The neighbourhood is built up with detached houses with gardens, low-rise houses and wide natural areas by Ķīšezers lake and the forests. This means each owner is responsible for their own water quantity, pressure and quality. Rīgas ūdens says it plainly in its explanation on private sources: if the water comes from your own well or borehole, the owner is responsible for its quality.
How we choose between a spike well, a borehole and a dug well
No official source publishes the groundwater depth for Trīsciems, and it can vary even between neighbouring plots. So we start with what already works nearby: how deep the neighbours' spike wells and wells are, whether they run dry in a dry summer and what water they give. The first drilling shows the rest, and we do not promise a quantity of water in advance.
- Spike well: suitable if the water-bearing sand is close to the surface, because a surface pump using suction can lift water only from a depth of 7–8 m. It is the cheapest route, but a spike well takes groundwater that is affected by everything happening around it.
- Borehole: if the water is too deep for a spike well, or if you live in the house all year and need a steady water supply for the shower, washing machine and garden. The aquifer is covered from above by denser layers, so it is better protected.
- Dug well (concrete-ring well): if the plot already has a well, it is often better value to clean or deepen it rather than dig a new one.
Rīgas ūdens writes that spike wells are usually 4–15 m deep and can be affected by rainwater and nearby waste water, while boreholes from about 30 m are safer, though more expensive. In Trīsciems this is not a theoretical question: without central sewerage, each house collects its waste water on its own plot. So we place a new source as far as possible from your own and your neighbours' septic tanks, and recommend a water test after installation.
Houses on Jaunciema gatve
If the house is on Jaunciema gatve, first find out whether a connection to the city network is possible. Fill in the “Service availability” form on the Rīgas ūdens website; the company prepares the technical conditions for a connection within 11 working days, free of charge. Riga currently provides no co-financing for a water main connection; municipal support is only for sewer connections. How to compare the two routes: connecting to mains water.
What the house needs besides the source itself
A spike well or borehole is only the point where the water is drawn. For the water to reach the tap at an even pressure, you need a pump, a pressure tank, a pipe to the house (below the frost depth or insulated) and an inlet in the utility room. We plan these together with the source, so that the pump matches the depth and the length of the pipe.
- Spike well installation in Trīsciems: from €350, usually €350–650; the pump and the connection to the house are not included.
- Borehole in Trīsciems: drilling from €65/m, a borehole about 30 m deep from €2,000, equipment from €500.
- Pump and pressure tank installation: submersible pump installation from €200, pump extra.
- Well cleaning in Trīsciems: from €150, including disinfection.
- Water supply system from the source to the tap: trench, inlet into the house, utility room.
- Iron removal: a filter with installation from €600, if the test shows iron or manganese.
At summer houses by the lake and the forest, the system has to be drained in autumn, otherwise the pump housing or the pipes crack in winter. How to do it properly: winterising the water supply system.
Water quality in your own source
Rīgas ūdens publishes figures only for its own network, so the water from a well or spike well in Trīsciems can only be described by testing it. The company itself recommends testing water from private sources in a laboratory, both chemically and microbiologically, because clear water with a good taste can contain microorganisms.
We take the sample, deliver it to an accredited laboratory and explain the result. The laboratory usually compares it with the values in Cabinet Regulation No. 547 on drinking water: iron 200 µg/l, manganese 50 µg/l, nitrates 50 mg/l, E. coli and coliforms 0. These regulations are not mandatory for a single household's source, but they are a clear benchmark. The basic test costs from €35, the full test with microbiology from €95: water testing.
Paperwork for a new source in Trīsciems
In the building code, a spike well (a driven well) counts as a water abstraction borehole. If the source is no deeper than 20 m and no more than 10 m³ is taken from it per day, no licence from the State Environmental Service (VVD) is needed. For a borehole deeper than 20 m, the drilling company applies for the licence (state fee €35.57) and after the work prepares the borehole passport, which the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre (LVĢMC) approves within 10 working days for €115.34.
Under Cabinet Regulation No. 253 (engineering structures), an explanatory memorandum (paskaidrojuma raksts) is submitted to the municipal building authority (būvvalde) for a new well or borehole. The VVD infographics describe this step differently, so check it with the Riga building authority before the work. Step by step: borehole registration.
Sources: Rīgas ūdens, contract performance report for 2025 (Trīsciems, Jaunciema gatve); the Rīgas ūdens “Property without a connection” and co-financing pages; LV portāls of 21.09.2026 on the Rīgas ūdens explanation of private sources. The law “On Subterranean Depths”, point 2 of the first part of Section 11; Cabinet Regulations No. 696 (points 13 and 16), No. 1055 (2.13), No. 752 (2.1), No. 253 (6.², 1), No. 547 (4.5 and Annex 1); LBN 222-15, point 64; the Protection Zone Law, the second part of Section 9. Checked 03.11.2026.
Neighbouring areas in the north-east
Similar buildings and similar questions about your own source are found in Jaunciems, Aplokciems, Suži and Vecdaugava. An overview of the whole capital: Riga.