diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/spath/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/spath/package.py
index eefe3f8916a..b4490dc6566 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/spath/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/spath/package.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class Spath(CMakePackage):
 
     variant('mpi', default=True, description="Build with MPI support.")
     depends_on('mpi', when='+mpi')
+    depends_on('zlib', type='link')
 
     def cmake_args(self):
         args = []