Water margin (margem): can you build on it in Portugal?
Not freely: the margin (margem) beside public waters is 50 m wide for the sea and waters under maritime or port authority, 30 m for other navigable waters and 10 m for non-navigable ones, and it is public water domain unless proven private.
- Answer
- The strip is public water domain unless proven private.
- Width
- 50 m (sea, maritime-authority waters); 30 m (other navigable or floatable waters); 10 m (non-navigable waters).
- Measured from
- The limit of the bed, or from the crest of a cliff where the bed meets one.
- Who decides
- The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
- Legal basis
- Lei 54/2005, article 11
- Sources
- files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2005/11/219a00/65206525.pdf
apambiente.pt/agua/dominio-publico-hidrico - Checked
- 2026-11-05
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