We clean grease traps for cafés and kitchens (from €90), pump out flooded basements and install pumps where the sewer lies lower than the street. In your request, write where the lid is and how to reach it.
Brasa: the city network and old buildings
Brasa is a neighbourhood close to the centre by Brīvības iela, the railway and the Mežaparks side. Its housing is made up of pre-war masonry buildings, later apartment blocks, hospital and other institutional complexes and small local businesses. In a setting like this, wastewater flows to the street sewer main, and septic tanks or holding tanks are the exception.
So most requests from Brasa concern what happens before the water reaches the street: grease in kitchen wastewater, water in the basement, blocked yard manholes and pumps that lift sewage up from the basement. If your property does have its own tank, pumping in Riga costs from €75 up to 4 m³; more detail: septic tank pumping.
In hospital and institutional complexes, the buildings' internal network can be extensive, with several manholes, pumps and separators. There, before the job, we agree an inspection, access and a schedule with the facilities department.
Grease trap cleaning in Brasa
For cafés, canteens and institutional kitchens, a grease trap is the way to comply with Riga's rules: discharging wastewater containing fats and food waste into the mains sewer is prohibited. A separator only stores the grease, so a full separator starts letting it through to the building's soil stacks and the street network.
- When cleaning, we pump out the entire contents, clean the walls and baffles, check the inlet and outlet and refill the separator with water.
- The pumped-out grease is delivered to a facility that accepts this kind of waste, not into the domestic sewer.
- The first time, the frequency is set by the manufacturer's instructions; after a few cleanings you can see how fast the layer builds up, and we set a schedule.
- A separator in the kitchen under the sink or in the basement can be done with a smaller hose; an underground separator in the courtyard needs the tanker to get closer.
Price: from €90. More: grease trap cleaning. For a regular schedule and documents: pumping services for businesses.
A pre-war building's basement: water coming from below
In an old masonry building, the basement floor can be lower than the street sewer main. If the basement has a laundry room, shower or toilet, the water from them won't flow to the street on its own, and during heavy rain sewage can back up through the floor drains. The solution is a compact lifting unit or an underground sewage pump station that lifts the wastewater up to the outlet level.
If the basement has already flooded, we pump the water into the tanker (see basement pumping). Groundwater, surface water and underground water must not be discharged into Riga's mains sewer without the agreement of Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility), so permanently connecting a drainage pump to the building's sewer is not a solution without permission.
While you wait for the pumping, switch off the electricity in the basement if the water is approaching the sockets, and ask the neighbours on the upper floors to use as little water as possible. While sewage is backing up, every litre they pour away ends up in the basement. Afterwards, find out the cause: a blockage in the courtyard network, a street sewer main overloaded by heavy rain and groundwater coming through the walls each call for different solutions.
Source: Riga City Council Binding Regulations No. 17 of 15.12.2017 “Binding Regulations on the Operation, Use and Protection of the Riga City Centralised Water Supply and Sewerage System”, points 3.6, 63.9, 63.11.7 and 63.11.8, likumi.lv/ta/id/296134. Checked 30 October 2026.
Inner courtyards and access
Brīvības iela, Senču iela, the railway and the tram make Brasa easy to reach, but a vacuum tanker can't stand for long on a tram street or a busy road. So before the job we find out where to park the tanker: in the courtyard, on a side street or by the gate.
- Write whether the courtyard is entered through an arch and how high and wide it is.
- Give the distance from where the tanker can park to the lid or separator.
- If the lid is in the basement, tell us whether the hose can be run in through a door or window.
- On institutional premises, arrange access with security or the facilities department in advance.
Who is responsible for a building's sewer
Riga's network ends at the control manhole 1.5–2 m from the street's red line (the official street boundary) or at the plot boundary. Everything beyond it (courtyard pipes, inspection chambers, basement pumps and grease traps) is the responsibility of the building owner or manager. For building managers we offer sewer manhole replacement, drainage well cleaning and pump repair.
Nearest neighbourhoods: Riga's centre, Teika, Čiekurkalns, Sarkandaugava and Mežaparks. All places: where we work.