Purpose

Watercare Services Limited ("Watercare", "we", "us", "our") is committed to respecting your privacy at all times. The purpose of this privacy statement is to outline how we collect, use, store and disclose your personal information to ensure we comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020.

By providing your personal information or using our services, you agree to this privacy statement. If you are providing information about any other person, then you confirm that in providing such information, you are authorised from that person to do so.

This privacy statement may change from time to time and we will tell you about any changes, including by posting an updated statement on our website. These changes will take effect from the date we post it, so please ensure you review our privacy statement from time to time.

This privacy statement is subject to, and should be read in conjunction with, any other terms and conditions you agree to when using or signing up to any of our services.

We welcome any questions or comments you may have. Please feel free to email us at [email protected].

What information do we collect?

Information from our website

When you visit or use our website, we collect information including the IP address and phone number of your machine or device, the operating system and the browser your machine or device uses, your browser's general Wi-Fi location, the date and time you are visiting and the pages you view.

Information regarding your usage of our website is collected to help us improve and offer the services you need each time you visit and to improve our services generally. We may also use this information to improve our advertising and marketing of related products and services.

Information collected from your general interactions with us

The personal information we may collect includes your:

• name, contact details (such as email address and phone numbers), date of birth, billing information and address (both postal and property);

• property's ownership status;

• medical information relevant to dependence on water supply;

• ​credit information, including details about your credit history, credit account, credit that may have been extended to you and your repayment history;

• water usage and wastewater usage;

• phone conversations with our staff, which may be recorded;

• email communications, and your written and verbal interactions with us;

• vehicle registration numbers when you visit our offices or other premises;

• image (via photograph or film) as you move around our premises.

We may also collect any other information connected with, or relevant to, our supply or your use of our services.

If you do not provide us with all or any of the personal information we may request from you from time to time, we may be unable to provide you with all or some of our services, provide you with the information you seek, permit you entry into our offices or other premises or, if you are applying for a employment or a contracting role with us, to process your employment or contracting application.

How do we collect your information?

Watercare will collect personal information directly from you when you interact with us over the phone, through email or letter, via our website, when you personally meet with our staff or agents or through your use our services.

We (and any authorised third parties in accordance with this privacy statement) may also collect personal information:

• as part of our recruitment processes;

• when you submit an application for employment or contracting opportunities with us;

• by recording calls you make to our staff;

• through the recording of your image on CCTV footage in and around our offices and other premises;

• when you subscribe to any Watercare newsletters, participate in surveys, competitions or promotions;

• when you log into our wifi; and

• through the use of cookies, web beacons, web chat and usage monitoring software when you use our website;

• the motor vehicle registration database.

Names and addresses obtained through the motor vehicle registration database are only used by us to assist with investigations into criminal activity on and around our plants and assets. It is your right and responsibility to advise NZTA if you do not wish to have your name and address(es) made available to us via the database.

We may also collect your personal information from third parties, such as:

• where you have authorised this collection by us;

• a publicly available source;

• a government department, body, or law enforcement agency;

• District Health Boards or other health agencies

• where you have authorised your service providers or agents to provide that information to us; and

• third party providers of cookies and other online tracking systems.

How we use information

We (and any authorised third parties in accordance with this privacy statement) may use your personal information for the following reasons:

• for safety and security purposes;

• to respond to any queries or requests for information that you may have;

• to process your transactions and administer your account with us; including to bill you where applicable;

• to help us develop, market, improve, manage, administer and facilitate our services and operations and those of our business partners;

• for internal purposes (such as risk management, staff training and billing);

• to ensure compliance with Watercare policies;

• to meet our legal obligations;

• as part of the investigation and analysis of incidents;

• to contract with authorised individuals;

• for us to notify you of services, opportunities, products or benefits which are being offered by Watercare;

• to carry out credit checks;

• to carry out pre-employment checks; and

• to conduct market research.

By providing our email address and/or mobile phone number, you consent to us sending you information connected with the above collection and use purposes via email or text message. The messages you receive from us will have instructions for how you can remove yourself from our mailing list.

How we use cookies and log files

We may use “cookies” and collect session information to provide you with access to tailored information and products on our website.

A cookie is a small data file that the website sends to your browser, which may then store it on your system for later retrieval by the website. Cookies record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor the websites to your interests. Information supplied by cookie and session information can help us to analyse the profile of the website’s visitors and help us to provide you with a better user experience.

Users have the opportunity, using their browser settings, to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, deleted, or not to receive cookies at any time. If you reject cookies, you may still use our website, but your ability to use some of the features or functionality may be limited.

Use of Cookies and Google Analytics

We use the Google Analytics service, which will issue cookies from its own servers and which will be able to track visitors throughout our website. For more information on how Google Analytics collect and processes data refer to Google's Privacy Policy for more information.

Who we disclose information about you to

We may disclose your personal information to:

• Watercare staff or advisors where it is necessary for that staff member or advisor to carry out their duties;

• Auckland Council;

• District Health Boards and other health agencies;

• our third party service providers.

When we disclose information

Personal information held by Watercare will be accessible by our staff or advisors where it is necessary for that staff member or advisor to carry out their duties.

Watercare will not disclose personal information to third parties except where:

• you have authorised such disclosure;

• Watercare is required to provide the information by law;

• disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to health, security or safety;

• disclosure was the purpose of collecting the information (such as where we disclose information to credit agencies);

• the source of the information was a publicly available source;

• it is necessary to facilitate the sale, disposal, assignment or transfer of Watercare or any of its assets or subsidiaries or related companies;

• disclosure is required by our service providers and contractors (for the purposes of the services they provide), so that we can complete a transaction on your behalf or provide you with a service that you have requested;

• disclosure is necessary to offer you products and services that may be of interest to you and to optimise the advertisements on our websites;

• disclosure is necessary to market, review or improve our services or facilities or those of the Auckland Council, in which cases we will disclose the information to the Auckland Council;

• it is necessary for a function of Watercare, such as for legal or auditing purpose;

• we are requested to do so in the course of legal proceedings or other investigation;

• if you request a monetary reimbursement for your private network, while we are assessing your claim, we may contact any service person/builder/plumber you have employed to carry out work on your private network. This to better understand the work that was carried out and the reason for it.

If we disclose your personal information (including credit information) to our credit reporting agencies in order to carry out our credit checks, you acknowledge that such credit reporting agencies may use and disclose your credit information for the purposes of providing credit reporting services to Watercare and other customers of the credit reporters.

How we store and protect your information

Watercare will take all reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We have a range of physical and technology policies in place to provide a robust security environment. We ensure the ongoing adequacy of these measures by regularly reviewing them.

Communications over the internet, such as emails, are not secure unless they have been encrypted. We may allow third parties to monitor our network for security and information assurance purposes.

How you can access and correct your personal information

Reasonable steps to ensure any personal information held by Watercare is accurate, up to date, complete and relevant will be taken.

You may make the following requests in relation to the personal information we hold about you:

• confirmation as to whether or not we hold personal information about you;

• access to the personal information;

• correction of the personal information we hold about you; and

• provide us with a statement of the correction sought to your personal information (Statement of Correction) and request that we attach the Statement of Correction to your personal information if we do not make the correction you have sought.

• In accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act, as soon as reasonably practicable and within 20 working days of receiving a request we will a) decide whether the request is to be granted and, if so, in what manner and for what charge (if any) may be payable for complying with the request; and b) notify you of our decision.

Watercare will endeavour to provide individuals with access to their personal information where it can be readily retrieved, unless there is good reason (in accordance with the Privacy Act) for not doing so, including where such a disclosure would breach someone else’s rights to privacy, confidentiality obligations and / or the law.

To request access to, or correction of, your personal information, of if you have any questions or complaints, please contact [email protected].