Pumping and sewerage in Kundziņsala - port terminals, warehouses and island homes

A port island with a small residential area

Kundziņsala is an island in the Daugava dominated by the port: cargo handling, logistics, warehouses and infrastructure. It also has a small historic residential area. Port roads and a bridge lead to the island, and all around are the river, the wind and an industrial setting.

So there are two kinds of customers here. Some are businesses whose offices, guard posts and changing rooms need their wastewater collected or pumped on. The others are households that may have their own septic tank or holding tank.

Entering the port area

At the terminals, entry is controlled by security, and each one has its own procedure. A vacuum tanker is a large vehicle, so it has to be registered in advance. In your request, state:

• the name of the terminal or company and, if you know, what details are needed for the pass;
• a contact person at the gate or on site;
• where the tank or station is and whether there are obstacles on the way: cranes, cargo areas, rails;
• your preferred time, taking the terminal's working schedule into account.

If a pass has to be arranged in advance, we sort it out before the trip, so that the job doesn't start with waiting at the gate. We don't enter a closed area without permission.

We choose the tanker size according to the volume and the site: a large tanker of up to 10 m³ empties a big tank in one go, but between stacks and on tight bends a smaller truck is more convenient.

How the work is done in a closed area

1. Request You state the site, the tank or station and a contact person at the terminal.
2. Arranging entry The contact person registers the truck with security according to the terminal's procedure; we send the required vehicle details in advance.
3. Arrival At the gate, security lets us in or an escort meets us, and on site we drive along the designated route.
4. Pumping We empty the tank or station and check that the floats and alarm work.
5. Certificate We issue a document with the date and volume, which the company keeps for at least two years.

Holding tanks, pump stations and canteens

If a building is far from the sewer main, the wastewater is either collected in a sealed tank or pumped through a pressure pipe by a pump station. A holding tank must be pumped out completely, and how often depends on the number of staff and the water consumption. A pump station needs its sediment pumped out and its floats and non-return valve checked periodically; otherwise grease and rags will stop the pump.

If the terminal's power is switched off for repairs, the station's tank can only take its reserve volume. So it is worth knowing about planned outages in advance and, if necessary, emptying the tank before them.

We also install new sewage pump stations (from €1,650) and holding tanks. Staff canteens need a regularly cleaned grease separator, because Riga's rules prohibit discharging grease into the network; cleaning from €90. For companies with several tanks: pumping services for businesses in Kundziņsala.

What size of tank to choose for a guard post

The size of the tank depends on how often you are prepared to empty it. An example based on an assumption: if a guard post has two people per shift and each uses about 50 litres a day, a 6 m³ tank fills up in roughly two months. A changing room with showers fills the same tank much faster.

If the building has a water meter, its readings are the best basis for the calculation. If the tank fills faster than the consumption suggests, groundwater or rainwater is most likely getting in, and the tank is no longer sealed.

Wind, frost and open yards

In the open port yards, the winter wind quickly chills the parts above ground: lids, vent pipes and shallowly buried pressure pipes. The pressure pipe from a pump station is laid below the frost depth or insulated, and the lids must seal tightly. If a tank or pipe freezes anyway, see the advice for a frozen septic tank.

In autumn, it is worth checking the station's alarm and its heating cable, if there is one, and not leaving a holding tank overfull before the frost.

Island homes with a septic tank or holding tank

If a home in Kundziņsala has no connection to the city network, a registration application for its system must be submitted to the municipality's Riga Housing and Environment Department. Septic tank sludge is removed at least once a year, and a holding tank is emptied as often as the water consumption requires: if there is no meter, Riga calculates 9.125 m³ a year per declared resident. Emptying a smaller tank (up to 4 m³) starts from €75, and since the island is in Riga, there is no mileage surcharge.

The registration application form is available at mvd.riga.lv and latvija.gov.lv. You can send it by post or electronically with a secure e-signature, and the neighbourhood residents' centres also help you fill it in.

If there is a mains sewer nearby, you can connect to it. For connecting a residential house, the municipality reimburses €1,000, €1,500 or €2,000, depending on how long the service pipe is.

Nearby neighbourhoods

The neighbourhoods closest to Kundziņsala are Sarkandaugava, Mangaļi and Vecmīlgrāvis, and near the port also Voleri. Other areas: where we work.