Privacy/Security

This privacy notice applies to The Water Research Foundation website(s) where this privacy notice is referenced, regardless of how you access or use them, including through mobile devices. Our websites may link to external sites or contain third-party-developed web tools whose data collection and usage differ from our policy. If you intend to directly participate in research with WRF, you should review the sample contracts and agreements as they apply to you on this site under proposal contracts. You will be entering into legal agreements that require us to process and retain the information you provide. The information provided on The Water Research Foundation website(s) is intended for high-level scientific research. It is not intended for persons under the age of full legal responsibility and we request that minors not submit personal information to WRF. 

Personal Information is information relating to an identifiable natural person through values such as a name, email, address, phone, gender, resumes, and materials you order or download. You provide that information to The Water Research Foundation in the course of requesting information or other self-initiated actions you take on our website(s). 

We do not consider personal information to include information that has been anonymized, pseudonymized, or aggregated so that it can no longer be used to identify a specific natural person, whether in combination with other information or otherwise. 

We collect personal information from you when you: 

• Request a site login, whether you are granted a login or not. Access to restricted site content is given to WRF subscribers. 

• Request material usage permission 

• Submit a research idea 

• Sign up as a PAC or Utility volunteer on our research projects 

• Express Interest in an Innovation Focus Area 

• Interact with the WRF TechLink website 

• Provide feedback to WRF 

• Request a proposal login to submit a research proposal for funding consideration 

• Submit a pre-proposal or proposal in response to an RFP or by invitation By WRF 

• Order or download research materials on waterrf.org 

• Sign up to attend a webcast Sign up to attend a workshop 

• Sign up for our newsletters 

• Nominate someone for an Annual Research Award 

• Provide a photo of yourself or pose in group photos 

The information you provide is accessible to only those employees or technical providers who require it to perform their jobs. When it serves to further research collaboration, WRF may share your interests and website actions, website attendance, or contact details. Staff is sensitive to what is shared and may reach out to obtain your permission or ask you to initiate contact. 

• Request a site login 
  Employees of subscribing organizations will be entered into our association management software, using the information you provide and given a username/password. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username/password and are restricted from sharing your credentials. Employees who leave their subscribing employer will lose their login credentials.
  
  Individuals who do not belong to a subscribing organization will not be given access to subscriber materials and may be contacted by staff to explain our subscription policy. Although not given access to subscriber materials, a “web account” will be created to allow access to non-subscriber materials. A cookie will be set on your browser once you provide basic information that will allow continued non-subscriber material access. Staff may make a record for you in our association management software. We encourage you to consult help in your web browser for more information about and how to delete cookies. 
   
• Submit a research idea 
  WRF staff receive an email with your research idea. They will review and respond to your submission, usually within 7 business days. The details of your submission are kept on file indefinitely in a file storage system. Staff may share your research idea internally if there is greater interest.
  
  From time to time and at its discretion, WRF may use the information collected on its website to solicit proposals for research. If you do not want to be solicited in this manner, please contact us.  
   
• Request material usage permission
  WRF staff receive an email with your request.  They will review and respond to your request, usually within 7 business days. The details of your request, if permission is granted, are kept on file indefinitely in a file storage system. The request may be shared internally to measure interest or noted by publication name to highlight a citation of our work. 
   
• Sign up as a PAC or Utility volunteer on our research projects
  WRF staff receive an email with the data you provide on your volunteer submission. The actual form and any CV/resume details you provide are stored indefinitely in a database and file storage system and may be used as a consideration for future volunteer opportunities. Utility volunteers who are selected to participate will be displayed on the last page of an RFP with their full contact details to aid in the preparation of a proposal. 
   
• Express Interest in an Innovation Topic Area
  Staff will review the information you submit when you ask to be considered for an Innovation Working Group or Volunteer Experts Pool and you will be contacted with further information. Given the collaborative nature of the Innovation program, some or all of the information you provide may be shared with partners in the interest of fostering collaboration or generating insight and is NEVER sold. We always post what is done with your information at the top of the page.   
   
• Provide feedback to WRF
  WRF staff receive an email with your feedback. They will review and respond to your feedback, usually within 7 business days. The details of your feedback are kept on file indefinitely in a file storage system and it may be shared with the appropriate people in order to take action on your feedback if appropriate. 
   
• Request a proposal login to submit a research proposal for funding consideration 
  Logins for the purpose of responding to an RFP will be given usually within 7 business days. You will be entered into our association management software, using the information you provide and given a username/password. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username/password and are restricted from sharing that password with others. 
   
• Submit a pre-proposal or proposal in response to an RFP or by invitation of WRF 
  Documents you submit as part of our proposal submission process are stored on the third-party-hosted proposal site and in our file storage system. They will be processed by staff according to procedures outlined in the proposal guidelines which are available on this site under Proposal Guidelines. Retention policies govern the longevity of your submission. 
   
• Order or download research materials on waterrf.org 
  When you are logged into the website and download materials or call to request materials, that action is written into our association management software as an order placed by you. Requests for printed material may be processed by our publication fulfillment house. A history of your orders is compiled to appear on your subscribing organization's Involvement Report. The download of non-subscriber materials is tracked under the user web account. 
   
• Sign up to attend a webcast 
  When you register for a webcast, your information is stored with our webcast provider to give you access to the webcast and allow you repeat viewing. If you register with your organizational ID, your participation is written into our association management software. A history of your attendance is compiled to appear on your subscribing organization's Involvement Report. Comments or questions you submit during the webcast are reviewed by staff and shared with the presenter(s) without personally identifiable data. It is also shared with WRF research managers, senior management, or regional liaisons who have an interest in your engagement with WRF. 
   
• Sign up to attend a workshop 
  When you register for a workshop, your information is stored on an attendance list.  It may be used to communicate specific workshop details with you. The registration list is kept on that site until workshop organizers request its removal. A history of your attendance may be entered into our association management software and appear on your subscribing organization's Involvement Report.  Comments or questions may be captured by the presenters during your event participation. 
   
• Sign up for our newsletters 
  You may opt-in or out of receiving our newsletters or manage your communication preference in the footer of any newsletter. Email communication that is essential to our business operation, such as invoicing or contracting cannot be excluded. 
   
• Nominate someone for an Annual Research Award 
  Information you provide for consideration in our annual research awards is reviewed by staff and a Board committee. That information is stored indefinitely on our file shares. 
   
• Submit your photo or participate in group photos 
  A professional photo that you submit will be used for the purpose of which it was intended, such as in a speaker presentation slide deck. That photo may remain with your presentation indefinitely on the website. Group photos of committees may be posted on our website(s), in newsletters, or printed materials such as the annual report. 
   
• Questions About This Policy/Opting Out of Information Sharing 
  If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or if you wish to opt-out of any of WRF’s information sharing practices, please contact us.

Your username, Internet service provider's domain name, browser, and operating system, and other information are automatically recognized by our web server. This information becomes part of our website statistics and is used to determine the value of our web pages and to monitor our web traffic.   

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies for storing settings, enabling you to sign-in, providing page personalization, analyzing how our site performs, and fulfilling other legitimate purposes. Cookies offer a seamless browsing experience. A cookie is a small program that resides on your computer hard drive and is for use with The Water Research Foundation website(s) only. Cookies do not act maliciously on computer systems. They are merely text files that can be deleted at any time by the user, however without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable or unusable. Cookies cannot be used to spread viruses and they cannot access your hard drive. We encourage you to consult help in your web browser for more information about and how to delete cookies. 

During the course of engagement with The Water Research Foundation, your personal data may be collected when you share your business card with staff, you participate in project research as a volunteer or survey respondent, serve on committees, attend conferences, etc. Those interactions may be entered into our association management software and newsletters of interest may be assigned to your personal record. If you have expressed an interest in particular research topics, staff may reach out to inform you of upcoming related research. 

If you have committed to project participation or funding, you will be entering into legal agreements that require us to process and retain the information you provide. Any particular funding agreement will spell out the details and requirements you are entering into. 

To bring you the most cost-effective site enhancements, The Water Research Foundation may partner with a third-party technology provider, such as an e-newsletter service or social media platforms. When partnering with a third-party service provider, we will not share any more information than is necessary for the service, and we will make every reasonable effort to assure, by contract or otherwise, that the third party uses our technology and services in a manner that is consistent with this privacy policy. 

We have appropriate security measures in place at our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site. Staff and volunteers of The Water Research Foundation sign confidentiality agreements annually and staff are required to take regularly scheduled cyber security training. 

Indemnification

You agree to fully indemnify The Water Research Foundation and to hold The Water Research Foundation harmless from any and all claims, demands, actions, or litigations (including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs) resulting from your acts, omissions, or representations in any way related to your access to, and/or use of, The Water Research Foundation website(s). 

Waiver/severability

Any failure by The Water Research Foundation to enforce any provision of this policy shall not be construed as a continuing waiver of any rights under such provision. If any provision of this policy shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this policy and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses solely within our organization not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future, we will post the policy changes to our website(s). If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website(s) periodically. 

Limitation of liability and disclaimer of warranty:

The Water Research Foundation assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable for any damages to, or viruses that may infect, your computer equipment or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing in this site or your downloading of any materials from our website(s). 

While The Water Research Foundation attempts to convey accurate and current information on our website(s), the information provided may contain typographical or technical errors. you are advised to confirm the accuracy of any information presented on our website(s) before relying on it in any way. Neither The Water Research Foundation nor any other party involved in creating, producing, or delivering our website(s) is liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, or indirect damages arising out of your access to, or use of, our website(s). Without limiting the foregoing, everything on our website(s) is provided to you "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no event will The Water Research Foundation be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental, or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of our website(s), even if The Water Research Foundation is expressly advised of the possibility of such damages.  

The Water Research Foundation makes no representations about any technical information, advice, or report available on our website(s). Users should contact qualified personnel to review any information on our website(s) to determine its efficacy and applicability before any use. The placement of information on this site is not an endorsement or sponsorship of the creators or authors of the information. The display of The Water Research Foundation trademark or logo does not constitute an endorsement of any person or any product or service offered by such person.