For over three decades, residents of Potato Street in Riga, Latvia, have been waiting for basic infrastructure-a functioning sewage and water system-leaving them reliant on costly and outdated solutions [[1]]. Despite promises and a prioritized place on the city’s construction list, connection to centralized services remains years away, with estimates now pushing completion past 2030. This ongoing situation underscores the challenges of infrastructure development even within the capital city of one of the European Union’s Baltic states [[3]], and raises questions about equitable access to essential services.
Residents of Potato Street in Riga, Latvia, are facing another year without access to centralized sewage and water systems, despite initial hopes for a resolution over a decade ago. The ongoing situation highlights the challenges faced by some communities in accessing basic infrastructure.
In 2015, after a segment on the Latvian television program “4. studija” brought attention to their plight, residents were optimistic that connections to the city’s central systems would be completed within 10 years. However, “Rīgas ūdens,” the city’s water company, now estimates that a solution is at least five years away.
Residents are left to manage their own wastewater disposal, relying on cesspool tanks that require regular pumping – a service costing around 100 euros per visit. They initially constructed their own water well, but the lack of sewage access remains a significant issue.
“It’s absurd that in this area, just 200-250 meters long, we can’t connect to either the sewage system or the city water in the center of Riga,” said Valters, a resident of Potato Street. “You could say we’re ten minutes from the center, but there’s no water.”
“For 35 years – since 1990 – the Riga City Council has been unable to do anything about this.”
Work is Planned, But Delays Expected
Sandris Vanzovičs, a representative of “Rīgas ūdens,” explained that the company’s plans have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which have increased project costs.
“We have been looking closely at this area, and we continue to do so, but we haven’t forgotten about Potato Street,” Vanzovičs said. “The situation is complicated by the significant variations in elevation, making it impossible to build a gravity-fed sewage system. Therefore, either a sewage pumping station needs to be constructed, or each house will need to install its own pump.”
“Rīgas ūdens” has created a “Priority List of Sewerage Construction Areas” containing 125 projects. Potato Street is currently ranked 12th on the list.
“The good news is that Potato Street is relatively high on this priority list, but the bad news is that, despite ‘Rīgas ūdens’ investing two million euros in expanding the sewage network, the priority is areas with higher population density that have never had sewage systems, such as Čiekurkalns, Bukulti, and Dārziņi,” Vanzovičs stated. These areas require substantial capital investment.
Those districts are at the top of the priority list and demand significant investment, meaning that even with its 12th-place ranking, work on Potato Street is not currently scheduled. The estimated cost of connecting the street to the sewage network is 150,000 euros.
Vanzovičs estimated that work on Potato Street will not begin before 2030.
Residents Can Fund Connections Themselves
Residents have the option of connecting to the centralized sewage system at their own expense. The nearest connection points are on Graudu Street, 97 meters away, and Mālu Street, 235 meters away. Homeowners can receive 2,000 euros in co-financing from the municipality, but even with that assistance, the connection would cost at least 13,000 euros per household.
The outlook for connecting to the centralized water supply is more optimistic.
“There is a water main on Potato Street,” Vanzovičs noted. “The issue is the connection. For example, Potato Street 26 was connected in 2020, and Potato Street 42 in 2024. Potato Street 28, which is featured in this story, is only 10 meters from the street main. That should cost around 4,000 to 5,000 euros.”
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