Privacy Policy

California Water Association and its affiliates and related entities (collectively, “CWA”, “We”, “Us, “Our”) are serious about protecting our visitors’ privacy.  We understand your concerns about how we collect, share or use information about you and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) provides details about information we obtain from visitors to our websites, including www.calwaterassn.com and any successor replacement sites (“Site”). This Privacy Policy is also incorporated into and is a part of the Site’s Terms of Use. We encourage you to become familiar with the terms and conditions of both this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use. CWA reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time by posting a new privacy statement at this location. By continuing to access or use the Site, products, or services, you acknowledge you’ve reviewed and agree to this Privacy Policy.

For purposes of this Privacy Policy and related policies:

• “Personal Information” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal Information includes information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could be reasonably linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.  This includes any information you provide, information automatically collected about you, and information from third parties.  Aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized information and publicly available information lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records are not Personal Information.
• “Service Providers” are Third Parties that process information on our behalf to whom we disclose Personal Information for a business purpose pursuant to a written contract that limits the Service Provider’s right to retain, use, or disclose Personal Information for any purpose other than to provide services to us under the contract or otherwise specified under the law.
• “Third Parties” means vendors, agents, contractors, or partners that provide service to or on behalf of CWA or our business partners.

“You” and “Your” means any visitors to or users of the Site or other online services we provide.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide

To provide you with water and/or wastewater utility and related services, we receive, collect, store, use, and process information, including Personal Information, that you give or make available to us based on our business relationship with you, or by using or accessing the Site or other online services.  This information includes, but isn’t limited to:

• Information you use to visit, register for, manage, or access your CWA account, including your account number, name, address, phone number(s), and email address(es).
• Information you provide on any electronic or paper form, or authorization for someone else to manage your account.

Information Through The Site 

Your access or use of the Site: We collect information about visits to or use of the Site, such as the number of visitors that click on certain links or use certain services. We use standard industry software to create summary statistics of the collected data, which may then be used to highlight what visitors or users of the Site may find interesting, to improve the design and usability of the Site to identify system performance issues, or for other internal purposes.

Log data: We receive information that’s recorded when you visit or use the Site, including your Internet Protocol (“IP”) Address, which is a number automatically assigned to your computer or mobile device every time you browse the Internet. We might use the IP Address to help diagnose technical problems or to administer the Site. We may also use the IP Address to provide localized content to you on the Site related to your geographic location. Please note, however, that the IP Address is not associated with your Personal Information and we don’t use it to identify you when logging IP Address data.

Additional information that might be automatically recorded and collected when you visit or use the Site or other online services includes the type of Internet browser and operating system you’re using; the name of your Internet service provider and domains used by them; device identifiers (such as an Apple IDFA or an Android Advertising ID); device and browser settings; the websites visited before or after you visit the Site; the type of handheld or mobile device you used; location information; and the content and advertisements you might have accessed, seen, forwarded, or clicked.

Cookies: A cookie is a small piece of data sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer or other device that makes your use of some online services more convenient. When you visit or use the Site or other online services, cookies are generated and placed on your device.  We use cookies and similar technologies and might allow our business partners to do the same. This allows us to provide targeted information to you about programs or services we or our business partners offer. It may be possible for you to disable the use of cookies through your browser settings.

If you do not want your information to be collected through cookies, you can change the preferences in your Internet browser.

How We Use Your Information

We receive, collect, store, use, and process information you provide or make available to us for the following general purposes:

• To provide water and/or wastewater utility and other related services to you, administer your account, bill you for services, and process your payments.
• To improve our operational efficiency and to provide you with better service.
• To authenticate and verify your identity when you contact us or when you access your account.
• To communicate with you about your account or services, including responding to your contacting us.
• To send you information about programs or services that may be of interest to you.
• To prevent potentially fraudulent, prohibited, or illegal activities, and enforce our Terms of Use.
• To comply with legal requirements or assert or defend a legal claim.

Who We Share Your Information With 

We don’t and won’t sell your Personal Information without your explicit consent.  To provide you with services or to complete transactions you request, we might share your Personal Information with Third Parties and Service Providers who act on our behalf, including:

• Our affiliates, per this Privacy Policy.
• Service Providers, to provide, maintain, and improve our services, including service providers who help us with IT/network infrastructure, payment processing, data security, data analytics, communications, or otherwise.
• Third Parties you asked us to provide your information to.
• Third Parties in connection with a merger, sale of company stock or assets, financing, acquisition, divestiture, or dissolution of all or a portion of our business.
• Third parties, as reasonably necessary (a) to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; (b) to enforce or comply with our Terms & Conditions or other applicable agreements or policies, (c) to protect our rights or property, or the security or integrity of our services, or (d) to protect us, users of our services or the public from harm or potentially prohibited or illegal activities.  These parties may include regulatory authorities and other city, state or federal government agency with legal authority to obtain your Personal Information from us.

We don’t share or release Personal Information to any other person or entity without your prior consent, including electronically, except as necessary for us to:

• Comply with a valid warrant, subpoena, or court order.
• Comply with a valid request from a regulator or other state or federal government agency with legal authority to obtain Personal Information from us.
• Enable Third Parties to provide services to you on our behalf, but only to the extent necessary to provide those services and subject to appropriate confidentiality and security requirements.
• To protect the personal safety of our visitors, employees, or the public.
• Assist emergency responders in situations of immediate threat to life or property.
• To protect and defend our rights and property.

Communications

We use contact information you provide us, including email addresses and phone numbers, to communicate with you about your water and/or wastewater utility and related services and programs, including service interruptions, system improvements, and other aspects of the services we provide. This section of the Privacy Policy gives information about how we plan to interact with you, including as may be applicable, through voice, text messages, emails, and other forms of digital communication.

Email Communications – Terms of Use

Implied Consent: By providing us with your email address(es), you authorize us to contact you by email as a primary form of contact method when available, unless you select an alternative preference.

By providing us your email address(es), (i) you acknowledge and represent that you’re the authorized user of the email address(es); (ii) you give us express permission to send emails to the email address(es) until you revoke that permission; and (iii) you’re asking to receive such email messages even if the email address(es) you provide appear(s) on a federal or state Do Not Contact list and you agree that such email messages won’t be in violation of such list(s).

Opt-Out: You can opt-out of receiving some emails from us by (i) changing your communication preferences in the relevant CWA program account or website. Changing your communication preferences will disable the email message(s) for that particular program only. We reserve the right to (i) send you certain required and/or transactional emails and (ii) respond by email to your emails or other electronic communications means regardless of whether you opted out of receiving other emails from us.

No Warranties: We make no representations or warranties about email alerts, notifications, or other communications. We disclaim all warranties, including any implied representations or warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Social Media Sites

We may use social media sites (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) to communicate with you about our programs and services. You can choose to follow us on these social media sites to receive information about our programs and services. These sites also may allow us to provide targeted information to you using the information they maintain about you, even if you don’t specifically follow us on their site. We may target information to you using information we have collected from you such as cookies, pixels, zip codes, email addresses, and interests. You may be able to disable some or all of this targeted information by adjusting your privacy settings on the respective social media sites.

Links

While visiting or using the Site or other online services, you may encounter and choose to access websites or other online services that we don’t own or operate or isn’t otherwise associated with us by clicking on hypertext links or icons. We don’t control and aren’t responsible for what others do in connection with their websites, mobile applications, or other online services, or how they handle your Personal Information. You should carefully review the privacy policies and terms of use of these other websites and applications.

“Do Not Track” Signals 

The Site and other online services we provide don’t respond to “Do Not Track” signals, requests, or other similar mechanisms.

Information Retention

We retain Personal Information and other information you provide or otherwise make available to us, actively or passively, based on legal requirements or recommendations, including those from applicable regulators, or as long as is reasonably necessary to provide you with water and/or wastewater utility and related services.

Security

We maintain appropriate physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of your Personal Information, but no data transmission over the Internet or a wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As such, we can’t guarantee the security of any information you send us electronically and you agree that you do so at your own risk. We can’t and don’t assume responsibility for the use or disclosure of your information resulting from unauthorized or illegal access to our systems or those of our vendors, agents, contractors, affiliates, or partners.

Children

The Site isn’t intended or designed for children and we don’t collect Personal Information from children, including anyone we know to be under the age of 13. If we learn that a child under 13 submits information through any part of the Site, we will attempt to delete this information as soon as possible. By accessing and using the Site, you affirm that you are at least 18 years old, an emancipated minor, possess legal parental or guardian consent, or are accompanied by a legal parent or guardian, and are fully able and competent to agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use. If you are a parent or guardian of a child and believe the child has given us Personal Information, please contact us at staff@calwaterassn.com to let us know.

For California Residents Only – CCPA Notice

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) gives California residents additional privacy rights, subject to certain exceptions and limitations.  If you are a California resident, you have the right to make the following requests:

1. Access:  You can ask us for the categories and specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which the Personal Information is collected, the business purpose for collecting the Personal Information, and the categories of third parties with whom we have shared Personal Information during the 12 months preceding your request.
2. Delete: You can ask us to delete your Personal Information under certain circumstances.  Please note that we won’t be able to honor deletion requests in many cases, including when we need to keep the information to:  (i) complete a transaction or otherwise perform a contract between you and us (e.g., continue to servicer your account and provide water service); (ii) detect or protect against security incidents or fraud; (iii) comply with a legal obligation, including those imposed by the California Public Utilities Commission; and/or (iv) otherwise internally use your Personal Information in a lawful manner that’s compatible with the context in which you provided the information.

To request access to your Personal Information or delete your Personal Information, please contact us through any of the following:

• Email: staff@calwaterassn.com
• Web Form: https://www.calwaterassn.com/contact-us/

Consistent with the CCPA, we don’t discriminate against California consumers who exercise their CCPA rights. To protect you and your Personal Information, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity when you make a CCPA request using the information we have associated with your account, including service and billing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. You can also authorize someone you trust to submit a request on your behalf, as long as you give that person written permission to make the request for you and that person is able to adequately verify their identity to us. We can also respond to requests from authorized agents who submit a power of attorney under the California Probate Code that you provide to them.

If you need access to this Privacy Policy or a CCPA request form in an alternative format due to any disability, please contact us through the methods provided above.

CCPA Summary – Categories of Personal Information Collected, Sources of Collection, Business Purposes, and With Whom Shared 

Categories of Personal Information Shared Within the Last 12 Months	Sources of Collection	Business or CommercialPurposes	Category of Third Parties With Whom Personal Information Shared, If Shared, Within the Last 12 Months.
Identifiers:  This can include: real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, partial social security numbers, date of birth, driver’s license number, passport number, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers.	On the Site, calls and interactions with staff, applications and enrollment forms	Used for general business purposes for providing customer service, including creating, maintaining, customizing and securing your account with us.	Service Providers
Personal Records:  This can include physical description of characteristics, signature, telephone number, education, employment, employment history, insurance policy number, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information medical information, or health insurance information.	On the Site, calls and other interactions with customer care and field services staff, applications and enrollment forms	Used for general business purposes for providing customer service, including creating, maintaining, customizing and securing your account with us and processing payments.	Service Providers
Personal Characteristics or Traits:  This can include gender, marital status, religion, veteran status, familial status, race, disability, gender identity, and creed.	Calls and other interactions with our customer care and field services staff	Used for general business purposes for providing customer service, including creating, maintaining, customizing and securing your account with us and processing payments.	Service Providers
Internet Usage Information: This can include browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.	On the Site	May be used for internet browsing analytics.	Service Providers

Changes and Updates to Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Policy at any time at our sole discretion. Such changes will be effective immediately upon posting to the Site or being otherwise provided to you. Your use of the Site and our services after such changes have been posted will constitute your acceptance of all provisions of the then revised Privacy Policy.