Spanish restaurants must serve free tap water
Great news for Spanish diners - the Government has made it a legal requirement to provide free tap in all restaurants and cafes.
Before now, the EC's 2020 drinking water directive had only "encouraged" public venues and restaurants to offer tap water for free. This meant that, while customers were within their right to ask for tap water, any restaurant could also charge for it or only offer bottled water.
The Government in Spain hopes the new Law on Waste & Contaminated Soil for a Circular Economy will encourage a change in behaviour and reduce single use plastic waste for individuals. Spanish consumers are known for their fondness of bottled water and perceptions over the taste, quality, and health of tap water may need to be overcome.
"Establishments in the hotel and restaurant sector must always offer consumers, clients or users of their services the possibility of consuming unpackaged water free of charge and complementary to the offer of the same establishment."
The new law aligns with recent research from a researchers in Barcelona which shows that “the sustainability gain from consuming water from public supply exceeds human health gain from consuming bottled water."
Local authorities are also being told to install more public drinking fountains and, from January 2023, food shops must accept the use of reusable containers for food and beverages.
The European Commission suggests that requiring restaurants to serve water for free could save households more than 600 million euros on bottled water costs and help reduce the 25 million tonnes of plastic waste currently produced by Europeans each year.