Website Privacy Policy
Last modified: December 16, 2022
Introduction
The applicable subsidiary of Essential Utilities Inc. in your jurisdiction ("Company" or "We") respects your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.
This policy describes the types of information We may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website aquawater.com (our "Website") and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. We may also link to or you may elect to be directed to third party websites from our Website. Those third parties and their websites are not affiliated with or controlled by the Company, and this policy does not apply to how third parties define, collect, or use personal data.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. All information we collect on this Website is subject to this policy. By accessing or using the Website, you agree to this privacy policy and consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the privacy policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
Children Under the Age of 13
Our Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Website.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
We collect data from and about users of our Website. You provide some of this data directly, and we get some of it by collecting data about your interactions with the Company and Website. This includes information:
- about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type;
- regarding records and copies of your correspondence from email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website;
- about your interactions with this Website or with the Company through mobile and desktop applications you download, which includes non-browser-based interactions;
- that you provide by filling in forms on our Website, including information provided at the time of registering to use our Website, subscribing to our service, posting material, requesting further services, or you reporting a problem with our Website;
- regarding your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete, details of transactions you carry out through our Website, and/or regarding your search queries on the Website;
- details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other resources that you access and use on the Website; and
- information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking).
Information You Post
You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, "posted") on public areas of the Website, or transmitted to other users of the Website or third parties (collectively, "User Contributions"). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Website with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. Although we limit access to certain pages using certain commercially available tools or techniques, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.
Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
- Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
- Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
You have a variety of tools to control the data collected by cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. For instance, you can use controls in your internet browser to limit how the websites you visit are able to use cookies and you can withdraw your consent by clearing or blocking cookies. For more information on how to disable, or opt out of, these technologies, see the section below titled “Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.”
How We Use Your Information
The information we collect helps us serve you better, improve our Website, and/or to deliver a better and more personalized service. We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
- To present our Website and its contents to you and to notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
- To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
- To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
- For internal operations, such as improving the services offered, speeding up your searches, and estimating our audience size and usage patterns.
- For legal compliance purposes.
- To combat and prevent fraud.
- To store information about your preferences, allowing us to recognize you when you return to our Website, customize our Website according to your individual interests, and provide you with notices about your account.
- In any other way we may describe when you provide the information or for any other purpose with your consent.
Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
- To our subsidiaries and affiliates.
- To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of the Company’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by the Company about our Website users is among the assets transferred.
- To third parties to market their products or services to you. We contractually require these third parties to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it or any other purpose with your consent.
- To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
- To enforce or apply our terms of use.
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. In some cases, your ability to access or control your personal data will be limited, as required or permitted by applicable law. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
- Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe's website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
If you would like to report an issue related to potential data misuse please call 877.987.2782.
Your State Privacy Rights
State consumer privacy laws may provide their residents with additional rights regarding our use of their personal information.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page with a notice that the privacy policy has been updated on the Website home page. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.
If we make a significant or material change in our method of, or purpose for, collecting, using or sharing your personal information, we will post a notice on this Website prior to the changes taking effect. If you object to any change, you can stop using the Website.