Privacy Statement

Usage Policy

By using the Northern Kentucky Water District (the “Water District”) website, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions posted on the site, including this Privacy Statement. You agree that the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky will govern any dispute of any sort that may arise between you and the Water District concerning this website, or any other transactions that you may conduct with the Water District. Nothing on this website or other communications by the Water District is intended to waive the Water District’s or its employees’ sovereign immunity, qualified immunity, or other protections pursuant to Kentucky law.

Introduction

The Water District is committed to protecting your privacy and developing technology that gives you a convenient and safe online experience. This Privacy Statement applies to the Water District website, and governs all data collection and usage related to the website. By using the Water District website, you consent to the data practices described in this Privacy Statement. The Water District reserves the right to make changes to this website, including these terms and conditions, at any time, with or without notice.

Collection of Your Personally Identifiable Information

The Water District collects only personally identifiable information that is believed to be reasonably necessary to provide or improve services to our customers. The Water District collects personally identifiable information, such as your name, e-mail address, and home or work address or telephone number. The Water District also collects anonymous demographic information which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests, and other data or activities that may be incidental to your use of the website.

There also is information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected when you visit or use the Water District website. This information may include your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times, and referring Web site addresses. The Water District may use this data for the operation of the website or other Water District services, to maintain the quality of the website or other services, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the website.

For purposes of this Privacy Statement, the Water District is considered a Public Agency of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As a Public Agency, all non-exempt information collected by Northern Kentucky Water District may be subject to public disclosure under the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870. There may be a presumptive or potentially public status of certain information provided to Northern Kentucky Water District, including but not limited to data sharing between the Water District and other government agencies. However, the personal privacy exemption of state law protects certain public records containing personal information from public disclosure. Protecting your personal information and personal data in the Water District’s possession is important. The Water District educates its employees to follow reasonably safe practices for protecting consumer privacy. Only authorized employees have access to personal information.

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable information or personally sensitive data through the Water District’s public message boards, this information may be collected and used by others. The Water District itself does not read any of your private online communications.

The Water District encourages you to review the privacy statements of websites that you may choose to link to from the Water District’s website, so you can understand how those websites may collect, use and share your information. The Water District is not responsible for privacy statements or other content on websites outside of the Water District’s own websites.

Use of Your Personally Identifiable Information

The Water District collects and uses your personally identifiable information to operate the Water District’s website and deliver services you have requested. The Water District also may use your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from the Water District or its affiliates. The Water District may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services, or of potential new services that may be offered.

Depending on the nature of the service, your personally identifiable information may be shared with other government agencies pursuant to KRS 61.878(5). Kentucky laws allow the exchange of records or sharing of information between government agencies when the exchange serves a legitimate government need, or is necessary in the performance of a legitimate government function. For example, the Water District shares customer information with the Northern Kentucky Sanitation District. This information is used in part to bill customers for sanitation services.

The Water District does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. The Water District may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to your. If so, your personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the external business partner without your consent. The Water District also may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third partners are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information except to provide these services to the Water District, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

The Water District keeps track of websites, and web pages that our customers visit within the Water District’s website. This data may be used to deliver customized content and advertising to customers or website visitors whose behavior indicates that they may be interested in particular subjects.

The Water District will disclose your personally identifiable information, without notice to you, only if required to do so by law or in good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process served upon the Water District; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of the Water District; (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of customers of the Water District, other users of services of the Water District including the Water District’s website, or the public; or (d) share information with other government agencies pursuant to KRS 61.878(5) referenced above.

Use of Cookies

The Water District website uses “cookies” to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a website. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the website that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalize Water District web pages, or register with Water District sites or services, a cookie helps the Water District to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same Water District website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the Water District features that you customized.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you may modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Water District or other websites you may visit.

Security of Your Personally Identifiable Information

The Water District uses reasonable security measures to protect your personally identifiable information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. The Water District secures personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, environment, which is secured against unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personally identifiable information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites or services, it is protected through the use of encryption. The Water District utilizes a secure firewall for its computer systems. Customer credit card information is not stored on any database or other system exposed to the internet. Access to credit card numbers is limited to authorized employees for processing or other customer-related purposes.

The Water District recommends that you do not include sensitive information in unencrypted email. Email sent through your own email program may not be secured by encryption, or otherwise receive confidential treatment. If you use unsecured or unencrypted email, please do not include personal or other confidential information in any communication with the Water District (such as social security number, date of birth, bank account, credit card information, mother’s maiden name, medical information, etc.).

Changes to this Statement

The Water District occasionally may update this Privacy Statement. The Water District encourages you to review this Privacy Statement periodically, to keep informed of how the Water District uses and protects your information. The Water District reserves the right to make changes to this website and terms and conditions at any time, with or without notice.

Contact Information

The Water District welcomes your comments regarding this Privacy Statement. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please contact the Water District through: [email protected].

Additional Information

For important information related to this Privacy Statement, please review additional information located at this Northern Kentucky Water District site at the Legal Notice, Disclaimer, and Open Records Policy tabs.