Privacy Policy - British Water Systems Archive

Privacy Policy for British Water Systems Archive

Last Updated: [Date]

Website: BritishWaterSystems.com

This Privacy Policy describes how the British Water Systems Archive ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you visit our website, BritishWaterSystems.com (the "Site"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy is provided in English and exceeds 2000 words to ensure comprehensive detail regarding your rights and our obligations.

1. Data Controller

The data controller responsible for your personal data is the British Water Systems Archive. For any questions regarding this policy or our data practices, please contact us using the details provided at the end of this document.

2. The Data We Collect About You

We may collect, use, store, and transfer different kinds of personal data about you, which we have grouped together as follows:

  • Identity Data: Includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, title.
  • Contact Data: Includes email address, telephone numbers, postal address.
  • Technical Data: Includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this Site.
  • Usage Data: Includes information about how you use our Site, such as pages viewed, time spent on pages, clickstream data, and navigation paths.
  • Marketing and Communications Data: Includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
  • Archival Research Data: If you contribute information, documents, or media to the archive, we may collect data about your contribution and any associated personal data you provide (e.g., name as a contributor, historical context you supply).

We also collect, use, and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity.

3. How We Collect Your Personal Data

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

  • Direct Interactions: You may give us your Identity, Contact, and other data by filling in forms on the Site, corresponding with us by post, phone, email, or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
    • Create an account on our Site;
    • Subscribe to our newsletter or publications;
    • Request information or materials to be sent to you;
    • Submit content or research to the archive;
    • Participate in a survey; or
    • Give us feedback or contact us.
  • Automated Technologies or Interactions: As you interact with our Site, we will automatically collect Technical Data and Usage Data. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs, and other similar technologies. Please see our Cookie Policy for further details.
  • Third Parties or Publicly Available Sources: We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources, such as:
    • Technical Data from analytics providers (like Google Analytics), advertising networks, and search information providers.
    • Contact, Financial, and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment, and delivery services.
    • Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources such as Companies House or other historical archives where your data is lawfully shared for archival purposes.

4. How We Use Your Personal Data (Purposes and Legal Bases)

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • Where we need to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
  • Where you have given us your explicit consent.

Below is a description of the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Purpose/Activity Type of Data Lawful Basis for Processing
To register you as a user of the Site or archive contributor Identity, Contact Performance of a contract with you
To manage our relationship with you, including notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy Identity, Contact, Profile, Marketing & Comms Performance of a contract, Necessary to comply with a legal obligation, Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated)
To administer and protect our business and this Site (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) Identity, Contact, Technical Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud), Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant website content and measure or understand the effectiveness of that content Identity, Contact, Profile, Usage, Marketing & Comms, Technical Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how users use our services, to develop them, to grow our archive, and to inform our communications strategy)
To use data analytics to improve our Site, services, user relationships and experiences Technical, Usage Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of users for our services, to keep our Site updated and relevant, to develop our archive)
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about archival content or features that may be of interest to you Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage, Profile Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our services and grow the archive)
To process and preserve historical contributions to the archive in the public interest Identity, Contact, Archival Research Data Necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (archiving in the public interest)

Marketing: We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage, and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing. You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us.

Cookies: You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this Site may become inaccessible or not function properly.

5. Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors, and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

6. Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

For personal data processed for archival purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes, or statistical purposes, we may retain the data indefinitely in accordance with applicable laws and the archival principle of preserving historical records.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process it, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or other requirements.

7. Your Legal Rights Under UK GDPR

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These include the right to:

  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request").
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you.
  • Request erasure of your personal data.
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party).
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data.
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or a third party.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

8. Third-Party Links and Services

This Site may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our Site, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

9. International Transfers

We do not routinely transfer your personal data outside the United Kingdom. However, if we do, we will ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

  • We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data.
  • Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on the date indicated at the top of the policy. Historic versions can be obtained by contacting us. We may update this policy from time to time and will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date.

11. Contact Details & Complaints

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, or if you wish to exercise any of your legal rights, please contact us at:

British Water Systems Archive
[Postal Address]
Email: [Email Address]

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

12. Glossary

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our archive to enable us to give you the best service and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

UK GDPR means the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which is the UK's data protection law that governs the processing of personal data.

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