Septic tanks, pumping and sewerage in Dzirciems - schools, institutions and pockets of private houses

Who needs a pumping contractor in Dzirciems

• Kitchens of schools, kindergartens and medical institutions that have a grease separator.
• Buildings where toilets, showers or a kitchen are in a basement below the level of the street sewer and the wastewater is pumped up.
• Commercial premises with catering or food retail.
• The odd private house that still has a septic tank or a holding tank.

Apartment and institutional buildings are usually connected to the city sewer, so our work here is not annual septic tank pumping but looking after systems attached to the network: separators, pumping stations and connection pipes.

Institutional kitchens: grease trap cleaning

A school or hospital kitchen cooks a large number of portions every day, so the layer of fat in the separator grows faster than in a small café. Riga's mains sewer rules prohibit discharging fats and food waste into the network, so the separator has to be clean, not just installed.

1. Request Tell us the type of separator (underground or indoor), its approximate volume and the date it was last cleaned, if known.
2. Arranging it with the facilities team We agree access to the premises, passes, a place for the tanker and a time when the kitchen is not cooking, for example during the school holidays.
3. Cleaning We pump out the entire contents, clean the walls and baffles, check the inlet and outlet and refill the separator with clean water.
4. Certificate We issue a document with the date and volume, which the institution can add to its records and show during an inspection.

Grease trap cleaning in Dzirciems costs from €90. For a large separator, the price depends on the volume pumped out.

After the holidays: why the separator smells

School kitchens do not cook for months in summer, but water with fat and food scraps stays in the separator. With no flow it starts to rot, and when the kitchen starts up again in autumn, a smell appears from the floor drains and by the lid.

That is why it is worth cleaning the separator before a longer break or just before the kitchen restarts, rather than waiting for complaints in the first working week. The same applies to institutional kitchens that have been closed for a while for refurbishment.

Large premises: gates, barriers and distances

Dzirciema iela and Jūrmalas gatve link the neighbourhood well with the centre and the western neighbourhoods, but on the grounds of large institutions access has to be assessed site by site. Locked gates, barriers, pedestrian zones and narrow service yards decide how close to the lid the tanker can get.

In your request, tell us which entrance to use, who opens the gates and how many metres it is from where a lorry may stand to the lid of the separator or station. If the distance is long, we join hoses together, but we need to know this in advance.

Pump stations in basements and lower floors

If a basement has a toilet, shower or kitchen lower than the street sewer, the wastewater is pumped up by a station. It needs the tank pumped out periodically and the floats, non-return valve and pump checked. Fat and wet wipes are the most common reason a float gets stuck or a pump stops.

Installation and servicing: sewage pump stations. If the pump has already stopped working: sewage pump repair. Pumping out a station tank is charged at septic tank pumping prices.

Pockets of private houses: from septic tank to the city network

If a private house in Dzirciems still uses a septic tank or a holding tank, first find out whether a connection is available in the street. In Riga, for a connection built after 8 July 2023, a residential house can receive €1,000, €1,500 or €2,000, depending on the length of the connection pipe. The application is submitted to Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility).

Until there is a connection, the system must be registered with the Riga Housing and Environment Department, the septic tank must be pumped out at least once a year and a declaration must be submitted by 1 May. Building the connection pipe: sewer installation from €25/m.

Nearest neighbourhoods

Nearby in Pārdaugava we work in Iļģuciems, Āgenskalns, Ķīpsala and Zasulauks. All places: where we work.