l'Orxa / Lorcha

Can you build a house on rustic land?

The Valencian Community requires at least 1 ha for a new house on rustic land.

DL 1/2021, art. 211. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Plan General (a full town plan), from 2000. The region's planning viewer ↗

The SIU does not map land classes here: the town plan is the source.

Only the town hall can confirm it, in writing: ask for a certificado urbanístico.

Is there water?

IGME records 7 wells and boreholes in l'Orxa / Lorcha. Half of the 5 with a depth found water at 350 m. One spring is recorded.

Ground: 58% karstic or fissured aquifer, medium productivity; 21% porous aquifer, medium productivity; 17% low permeability, local groundwater only.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• One fire since 2016 reached the municipality: 2,356 ha, in 2023.
• 1.8% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 3% in the 500-year one.
• 0.6% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 38% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 100% of the municipality is a protected natural area, whose plan limits what can be done.
• Not a radon zone.

Living here

• 4G reaches 100% of homes; fibre 91%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 567 mm a year (1971–2000), about 476 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 28.9 °C, about 32.4 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 12 a year, about 3 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Aielo de Rugat · Beniarrés · Montitxelvo / Montichelvo · Terrateig · Salem · la Vall de Gallinera · Planes · Vilallonga / Villalonga