We pump out septic tanks and holding tanks (from €75), service pump stations and business manholes, and give you the document Riga requires for the annual declaration. Write the exact address in your request, because Mangaļi is not an official neighbourhood name.
Mangaļi: a historic name you won't find in the register
Mangaļi is a historic area of northern Riga between Mīlgrāvis, Vecmīlgrāvis and the port zones. In everyday speech the name refers to the historic Mangaļi parish, it is also used for Mangaļsala, and it is the name of a railway station on the line to Skulte. Riga has no official neighbourhood of that name.
In practice this means one thing: the municipal register, the pumping document and the contract record an address, not “Mangaļi”. If you give the street and house number or the cadastral number in your request, the truck finds the property without unnecessary searching, and the document is valid for the register.
Low-rise homes with their own system
The buildings here are a mix of low-rise houses, apartment buildings and industrial sites. Some of the low-rise houses may still have a septic tank or holding tank. Being close to water means that moisture and groundwater have to be taken into account both when choosing a tank and when pumping it out.
- After pumping, mark the water level in the empty tank. If it rises within a week without any water being used in the house, groundwater is getting into the tank.
- A holding tank must be sealed. If it fills more slowly than the water consumption suggests, wastewater is leaking into the ground.
- After the tank, a septic tank needs infiltration in a dry layer of soil; on a wet site it is worth comparing it with a biological wastewater treatment plant (BIO plant) or a sealed tank.
A comparison to help you choose: holding tank or septic tank. If the tank is no longer sealed: septic tank repair or old septic tank replacement.
If there is already a Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility) network in the street, compare the cost of keeping the tank with connecting. Riga grants €1,000, €1,500 or €2,000 for connecting a residential house, depending on the length of the service pipe, if the programme's conditions are met; building the service pipe costs from €25/m. More details: connecting to the mains sewer.
What Riga requires every year: documents and the declaration
- Registered pumping contractor A septic tank or holding tank may only be pumped out by a contractor listed in the Housing and Environment Department's register of pumping contractors; on 30 October 2026 it listed 25 companies.
- A document for every visit The contractor issues a document with the address, date and volume removed. Keep it for at least two years.
- Minimum frequency A septic tank at least once a year; a holding tank according to water consumption and volume, and without a meter 9.125 m³ a year per declared resident.
- Declaration by 1 May Every owner submits a written declaration to the Department on the volume of wastewater removed in the previous year.
For breaching Riga's rules, an individual can be given a warning or a fine of up to 70 fine units (€350), and a legal entity a fine of up to 280 units. The easiest way to avoid this is to keep the documents from every pumping in one folder.
Sources: Riga City Council Binding Regulations No. 66 of 19.12.2018 (points 5.6, 23, 26, 28.12 and 30, Annex 2), likumi.lv/ta/id/304471; the Housing and Environment Department's register of pumping contractors, mvd.riga.lv; Cabinet Regulation No. 384 (points 7 and 9.1), likumi.lv/ta/id/291947. Checked on 30 October 2026.
Winter and damp: when to pump out
On a damp site, the tank lid and the top layer of soil freeze faster in winter, and a full holding tank is harder to pump out in frost. So in autumn, before the first frosts, we recommend emptying the tank and leaving the lid freely accessible: no soil, woodpiles or heaps of snow on it.
If the lid freezes anyway, don't pour boiling water over it if the tank is plastic, because the lid and seal can deform. What to do if a pipe has frozen: frozen septic tank.
Apartment buildings and businesses near the port
- For building managers: sewage pump station maintenance, replacement of courtyard manholes and basement pumping.
- For factories and warehouses: drainage well cleaning and rainwater drainage for yards.
- For premises with their own domestic tank: pumping for businesses on a schedule, with a document for every visit.
- For staff canteens: grease trap cleaning from €90.
Access: Mīlgrāvja iela, the railway and port roads
Mangaļi is reached via Mīlgrāvja iela, the railway and the northern port roads, which carry a lot of heavy vehicles. Level crossings and freight traffic can make the route longer, so we agree the time in advance. On company premises that require passes, arrange a permit for the truck; at low-rise houses, tell us the distance from the street to the lid.
Nearby areas: Jaunmīlgrāvis, Vecmīlgrāvis, Mangaļsala and Sarkandaugava. All areas: where we work.