Privacy Policy

Company collects information about you in several ways. We collect information directly from you, such as when you:

• Make a payment to us,
• Subscribe to our mailing list,
• Register for and attend our events,
• Send us an email or social media message inquiring about us, or
• Create an online account.

We collect information automatically from you using Cookies and Similar Technology when you visit our websites or engage with certain emails we send. This information includes:

• Identifiers such as your name and contact information, including real name, IP address, email address, or other similar identifiers when filling out a form on our website.
• Demographic information, such as your geographical area (e.g., Seattle Metropolitan Area).
• Content, such as surveys you complete.
• Your preferences, interests, and affiliations, such as your contact preferences when you sign up for our events.
• Communications, such as when you send us email or engage with us on social media platforms.
• Device information, such as information we automatically collect about ‎your operating system, browser, device, or connection when you use ‎our website.  ‎
• Digital interactions, such as the data we gather about your activities on our website, including searches queries you conduct on our website or information we automatically collect about your visit to our websites or engagement with our promotional emails. Such information may include:
  • Date and time of your visit to our websites and duration of your visit,
  • Your traffic patterns and clickstreams,
  • The content you viewed on our website, and
  • The website from which you linked to our website.

To learn more about information automatically collected, please see Cookie and Similar Technology section.

Company may process de-identified personal information. Data in this state cannot be used to infer information about, or otherwise be linked to, a particular individual. In those instances, and unless allowed under applicable law, we will maintain such information in a de-identified state and will not use it to re-identify the individual.

We use your information for a variety of purposes. For example, we use your information, to:

Process transactions and provide support.

For example:

• Identifiers
• Content
• Communications
• Your preferences, interests, and affiliations
• Device information
• Digital interactions

Operate and maintain our websites.

For example:

• Identifiers
• Your preferences, interests, and affiliations
• Device information
• Digital interactions

Conduct research.

For example:

• Identifiers
• Your preferences, interests, and affiliations
• Device information
• Digital interactions

Protect our rights and property, as well as those of our users or community members, and prevent harm.

For example:

• we will share video surveillance with law enforcement or investigators if we believe a crime has been conducted or someone is at risk. All categories of personal information, as necessary

Detect and prevent fraud, suspicious digital activity.

• All categories of personal information, as necessary

Enforce our policies and contracts.

• All categories of personal information, as necessary

Comply with law and regulations, or meet other legal, ethical, or professional requirements.

• All categories of personal information, as necessary

In carrying out these purposes, we combine information we collect from different contexts and/or sources to provide you a more seamless and personalized experience, to make informed business decisions, and for other legitimate business purposes.

We share your information with others in a variety of circumstances. We share with your consent, at your direction, or to complete any transaction or request you have authorized. We also share your information in the as outlined in the chart below. Please see below for more information on the types of third parties we share your information with, the types of personal information shared with those third parties, and why.

Privacy laws provide individuals with specific rights regarding their personal information. ‎Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following ‎rights and choices regarding your information.

• The right to be informed or to know. You may have the right to be informed of how we process your information. For example, you may have the right to be informed of or to know:
• The categories of personal information we collect and process about you.
• The categories of sources for the personal information we collect and process about you.
• The purposes for collecting or processing that personal information.
• The categories of personal information shared or disclosed to third parties, the categories of those third parties, as well as the purposes of such sharing or disclosure.
• If we sell or share your personal information. We use Google Analytics to understand how users navigate to and within the CWS website to maximize how and where we share essential information with ratepayers.
• The right to access. You may have the right to access or view the personal information we process about you.
• The right of data portability. You may have the right to request a copy of your personal data in electronic format and the right to transmit that personal data for use in another service.
• The right to correct. You may have the right to request that Company correct any of your personal information.
• The right to delete. You may have the right to request that Company delete any of your personal information that we collect from you or process, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your request, we will delete (and notify any relevant third parties to delete) your personal information, unless an exception applies.
• The right to not be subject to automated decision making. We do not engage in automated decision making which results in any decision making of serious consequence.
• The right to opt-out. You may have the right to limit our use of your personal information or to opt-out of certain processing of personal information. For example, in some jurisdictions, you may have the right to limit our use of your sensitive personal information and to opt-out of targeted advertising.
• Right to not be discriminated against for exercising your rights. If you exercise your rights, we will not discriminate against you.

You can exercise your rights, as well as make choices regarding Company’s collection and processing of your information through various methods and tools. For example, you can:

• Contact us. If you’d like to exercise your rights, or if you have any questions about our privacy practices, please contact us – Info@Cleanwaterservices.org and askus@cleanwaterservices.org
• Update your account. Only accounts offered are on the Company permit payment portal, you can create an account, update billing/contact information, or review permit details.
• Use operating system or browser privacy controls. Most operating systems and browsers provide privacy settings. For example, many browsers allow you to control your interactions with cookies, which will impact the information processed by cookies on our websites. Please refer to your operating system or browser documentation for information on how to access these settings. Your settings may impact your experience with our websites and the functionality available to you.
• Unsubscribe. With each marketing communication, you will be given the opportunity to opt-out of receiving ‎future marketing notices. You may also opt-out of receiving future marketing notices by ‎contacting us at Info@Cleanwaterservices.org. If you request that we not contact you for ‎marketing purposes (either by using the unsubscribe mechanism or by sending us an email), we ‎reserve the right to contact you for non-marketing purposes.

You, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a request to exercise your rights related to your personal information. We may ask that you:‎

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you or your authorized representative’s authority to act on your behalf. Where possible, we will attempt to verify your identity by only using we have previously collected from you, such as an e-mail address. DO NOT SEND US SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION, such as a social security number or picture of photo ID, in your request to exercise any rights.  
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and/or confirm the personal information relates to you.

We will confirm receipt of any request to exercise your rights within ten (10) days of receipt and will endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within thirty (30) days of its receipt. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.

The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, you will need to submit a public records request.

Our websites and other services use cookies and similar technology to automatically collect personal information about your use and interactions.

• Cookies are small files placed on your device to store information, often consisting of a unique personal identifier, for a variety of purposes.   
• Web beacons are small tags placed in digital content, for example on a website or email, to track how the user interacts with the content. Such interaction will trigger a transfer of information that can be used to gain insight, such as how many people have viewed the content.
• Pixels and web tags are encoded in digital content to enable functionality and/or to track engagement with digital content across contexts. 
• SDKs. A software development kit (SDK) is a developer tool embedded in an application often used to collect information about use of the application, as well as the device running the application.

We use cookies to assist you with website navigation/authentication; security purposes; fraud detection; analyze the use and performance of our services; measure our audience; save your preferences; otherwise facilitate legitimate business purposes. We may also hire others, such as a vendor providing analytics services, to place cookies on our digital properties to gather information on our behalf.  

We may permit third parties to automatically collect information on our websites using cookies and similar technology. We use the information collected through these third parties to understand our audience, help us measure the use of our website, secure our websites, or other services. The third parties use your information for their purposes as well. For example, these cookies may allow them to collect or receive information over time about your online activities from and across different sites and services. You can opt out of certain types of data processing by the third party by visiting the links provided below.

We use Google Analytics to get information about website traffic. Learn how Google processes your data collected using cookies. To opt-out of Google Analytics, and learn about the Google Privacy Checkup.

Our websites are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect or use personal information from children. For information on the Children’s Online Protection Act (COPPA), please see: http://www.coppa.org/

We use reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and security of the personal information we process. ‎Unfortunately, no electronic network or methods of transmitting data over the Internet can be ‎guaranteed to be 100% secure.

We consider the following factors when determining how long we retain and store your information:

• Our legal and contractual obligations,
• Our professional and ethical responsibilities,
• The purpose for which your information was collected or processed,
• Your requests to delete the information,
• Retention periods in applicable laws and regulation, and
• Our legitimate business purposes. We may retain your data to the extent it is necessary to prevent fraudulent activity, to protect ourselves against liability, and to allow us to enforce our contractual or other rights and to pursue available remedies and limit any damages we might sustain.

Company stores information in the United States.

This Statement applies only to the information Company collects and processes. Our websites or our digital communications could contain links to other websites and services that are not owned or controlled by us. We are not responsible for and have not reviewed the privacy practices of such sites or services, or the owners or operators of such sites or services. We shall not be responsible or liable in any way because of your use of any other sites or services.

We may revise this Statement at any time to enhance transparency. We may also update the Statement, as necessary or as useful, in response to (a) changes in applicable laws, regulations, or standards, (b) changes to our processing of personal information, or (c) changes to our business operations. For example, we may modify the Statement if a new applicable law requires additional notices or if we intend to collect new categories of personal information. We will post any revised Privacy Statement here and provide a “Last Updated” date at the top of this Statement. In some cases, we might provide you with additional notice (such as by adding a statement to the homepage our website). We encourage you to review this Statement regularly to stay informed about our processing of personal information, your rights, and your choices. 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement or the use of your information, please contact us at: Info@cleanwaterservices.org