What Does APTA and NO APTA Mean? Spain's Water Certification Explained

Spain's water classification system

In Spain, every public water supply network is regularly tested and classified by the regional health authority. Results are published in SINAC (Sistema Nacional de Información de Aguas de Consumo). Each network receives one of two classifications:

APTA — The water is fit for human consumption. It meets all requirements set by Spanish Royal Decree 3/2023 (EU Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184).
NO APTA — The water does not meet one or more legal requirements. This is rare and usually temporary.

What does NO APTA mean?

NO APTA means a specific parameter has exceeded its legal limit. This does not necessarily mean the water is dangerous — it can be triggered by aesthetic parameters like turbidity or iron.

Important: NO APTA can also indicate genuine safety concerns like bacterial contamination. The key is to check which parameter triggered the classification on our municipality pages.

APTA vs. our scoring system

The scores on this site (0–10) are not the same as the APTA/NO APTA classification. Our scores provide more granular detail — a network can be APTA but score 6/10 on hardness because the water is very hard, which is legal but affects daily life. Think of APTA/NO APTA as pass/fail, and our scores as a detailed report card. See our methodology page for details.