Privacy Policy

The Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) places a priority on protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy was created in order to demonstrate AWE’s firm commitment to the privacy of our members and website users. This policy explains what types of information are collected by this particular AWE website1, and how the information may be used.

If you do not want us to collect or process your personal information in ways described in this Privacy Policy, you should end this session now and refrain from using our website in the future.

What Information is Collected

The information gathered by this website falls into two categories: 1) information voluntarily supplied; and 2) tracking information gathered as you navigate through the website. 

As appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, company name, job title, or other details to help you with your experience.

When Do We Collect Information

We collect information from you when you register, apply for membership, place an order, subscribe to a newsletter or email list, respond to a survey or marketing communication, fill out a form or otherwise enter information on our website, and generally navigate the website.

How Your Information May be Used

We use your given personal information to provide you with personalized service; to send email alerts to you; to respond to your requests for information; to process memberships, orders and event registrations; to provide updates on AWE initiatives, activities and events; to offer products and services that may be of interest to you; and to analyze use of and improve our website, programs, products and services.

Through the use of cookies2, we use your site navigating activities to track overall use of our website. This lets us see which of our features are the most popular so we can better serve our users' needs. It also lets us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf—e.g. Google Analytics—where use information including the type of browser you use, access times, pages viewed, your IP address, your general location, and the page you visited before navigating to our website. Note: You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since each browser is a little different, look at your browser's help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies. 

Security

AWE takes precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline. Wherever we collect sensitive information (e.g., credit card information), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a lock icon in the address bar and looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the webpage.

While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (e.g., billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. This is all done to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure or modification of the user’s personal information under our control.

Do Not Track

AWE does not currently employ a process for automatically responding to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals sent by web browsers, mobile devices, or other mechanisms. Per industry standards, third parties may be able to collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites or online services. You may opt out of online behavioral ads at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/. You also may limit certain tracking by disabling cookies in your web browser.

Third-Party Links

This website includes links to external websites. Not all of the links fall under AWE’s domain, thus AWE is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of external, non-AWE websites. To learn more about such third party policies, we recommend that you read and review the privacy statements of each third party website you visit in connection with our website.

Third-Party Disclosure

AWE does not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personal information, including email addresses, unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include our chapter organizations(s), website hosting partners, and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conduct our business, or serve our users, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when its release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others' rights, property or safety.

California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA)

CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law's reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personal information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared. Per CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

  • Users can visit our website anonymously;
  • Once this Privacy Policy is created, we will add a link to it on the homepage of our website or as a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website (www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org);
  • Our Privacy Policy link includes the word 'privacy' and can easily be found on the page specified above;
  • You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes via our Privacy Policy page; and 
  • You can change your personal information we have on file by emailing us.

CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. We collect your email address in order to:

  • Send information, respond to inquiries and/or other requests or questions;
  • Process membership applications, orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders; and
  • Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred.

To be in accordance with the CAN-SPAM Act, we agree to the following:

  • Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses;
  • Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way;
  • Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters;
  • Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used;
  • Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly; and 
  • Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

GDPR European Union (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.

In compliance of this law, AWE does not utilize data for any reasons other than to fulfill commitments to existing products and services. AWE does not share any personal data or information collected from this website with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. AWE has data retention and storage mechanisms in place to control who has access to the data and has placed limits on what purposes the data can be used for. Furthermore, under the GDPR, AWE uses the following lawful basis for processing personal data:

  • Contractual – as a membership organization, members apply to AWE and pay annual dues, which is payment for services rendered.
  • Legitimate Interest – As a North American advocate for water efficiency, AWE communicates not only with its members but also with others in allied fields that have an interest in water efficiency and conservation issues. AWE provides information to these individuals about insights on sustainable water use, news about upcoming conferences or events, promotion of its members, etc. Individuals may unsubscribe at any time from receiving this information.
  • Consent – AWE will ask explicit permission to collect and process information. If we collect personally identifiable information, AWE will always tell you directly what information is being requested and what we plan to do with it. AWE gives separate granular options to consent separately to different purposes and types of processing. AWE allows individuals to withdraw their consent at any time without detriment.

Children Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years old, COPPA puts parents in control. The COPPA Rule spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.

AWE does not specifically market to children under the age of 13 years old.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

As AWE, its membership, products and services change from time to time, this Privacy Policy is expected to change as well. We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time, for any reason. The date of the last revision to this Privacy Policy will be indicated by the "Effective Date" at the bottom of this page.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy—or to find out what information we have collected about you, and to request any changes—you may contact us using the following information. Note: We will need to validate the identity of anyone making any such inquiry to ensure that we do not provide your information to anyone who does not have the right to such information.  

Alliance for Water Efficiency
318 W Adams St., Ste. 1514
Chicago, IL 60606
Email: contact@a4we.org 

Effective Date: March 26, 2024

Footnotes:
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1 https://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org
2 Cookies are small files that a website or its service provider transfers to your computer's hard drive through your web browser (if you allow) that enables the site's or service provider's systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information—are used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity.