La Riera de Gaià

Can you build a house on rustic land?

Catalonia allows no new houses on rustic land. Restoring an existing or listed building is the way.

DL 1/2010, art. 47. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Plan General (a full town plan), from 2009. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 100% of the municipality.

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

Is there water?

IGME records 39 wells and boreholes in La Riera de Gaià. Half of the 37 with a depth found water at 25–92 m.

Ground: 58% low permeability, local groundwater only; 23% porous aquifer, medium productivity; 18% porous aquifer, high productivity.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• No mapped fire since 2016.
• 6.5% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 10% in the 500-year one.
• 1.5% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 4% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 4% 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 94%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 337 mm a year (1971–2000), about 287 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 28.6 °C, about 31.5 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 3 a year, about 1 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Altafulla · La Nou de Gaià · El Catllar · Vespella de Gaià · Tarragona