Zumaia

Can you build a house on rustic land?

The Basque Country allows a new house on rustic land only when a farm needs it. Otherwise it has to go in a village, or restore a building.

Ley 2/2006, art. 28. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Plan General (a full town plan), from 2006. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 97% of the municipality.

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

Is there water?

IGME records 2 wells and boreholes in Zumaia. Half of the 2 with a depth found water at 15–20 m. One spring is recorded.

Ground: 60% practically impermeable; 19% porous aquifer, high productivity; 11% surface water body; 8.5% karstic or fissured aquifer, high productivity.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• No mapped fire since 2016.
• 0.7% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 1.4% in the 500-year one.
• 0.7% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 11% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 11% of the municipality is a protected natural area, whose plan limits what can be done.
• Radon zone I: new and restored homes need radon protection by law.

Living here

• 4G reaches 100% of homes; fibre 99%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 1,259 mm a year (1971–2000), about 1,071 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 22.5 °C, about 24.6 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 9 a year, about 3 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Aizarnazabal · Getaria · Zestoa · Deba