Privacy Policy

Water Shedding's Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is between You and Water Shedding (Pty) Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our” and/or “Water Shedding”).

Introduction

Water Shedding is committed to upholding strong privacy protections for its users. Our Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) aims to help you understand how we collect, use, and protect the information you provide to us, assisting you in making informed decisions while using our Service. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Service/Product” refers to Water Shedding’s services and/or products, more information on which can be accessed via our Website www.watershedding.com, which may change periodically. “You” refers to you as a user of the Service/Product or as a visitor to our Website. By accepting our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, you consent to our collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.  

Information we collect

We collect “Non-Personal Information” and “Personal Information.” Non-Personal Information includes information that cannot be used to personally identify you, such as anonymous usage data, general demographic information we may gather, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform types, preferences you submit, and preferences that are generated based on the data you provide and the number of clicks. Personal Information includes, but is not limited to, your name, surname, cell phone number, email address, and residential address, which you submit to us through the Site or during the registration process Service/Product.

Information collected via Technology

To enhance the quality of our Service/Product, we track information provided by your browser or our software application when you view or use the Service/Product. This information includes the website you came from (known as the' referring URL”), the type of browser you use, the device you accessed the Service/Product from, the time and date of access, and other information that does not personally identify you. We collect this information using cookies, which are small text files containing an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to a user’s browser from our servers and stored on the user’s computer hard drive. Sending a cookie to a user’s browser enables us to gather non-personal information about them and keep a record of their preferences when utilizing our services, both individually and collectively. We may use both persistent and session cookies: persistent cookies remain on your computer after you close your session until you delete them, while session cookies expire when you close your browser. 

Information You provide us by registering for our products/services

Water Shedding collects information about you when you register your personal information on our site and/or from your authorized residential landlord, property manager, board of trustees, body corporate, and/or homeowners association that utilize the Water Shedding Service/Product. In addition to the information automatically provided by your browser when you visit the site, to become a customer and use the Water Shedding Service/Product, you will need a certified/registered water meter along with a binding Water Shedding Service Level Agreement signed by you or your authorized residential landlord, property manager, board of trustees, body corporate, and/or homeowners association.

The authorized organization and/or representative chairperson, trustee, property manager, board of trustees, body corporate, and/or homeowners association must provide your information, including your email address and physical address, to us in order to create your online profile, username, and password for using the Service/Product. By registering and using our Service/Product, you authorize us to collect, store, and use your email address and other personal information as required in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

How we use and share information

Personal Information

The nature of our value proposition and core service we deliver entails that, as a registered user of the Service/Product, your water consumption information is shared (on a monthly basis) with the dedicated person or manager assigned by your authorized landlord, property manager, board of trustees, body corporate, and/or homeowners association, to keep a record of the individual monthly consumption-based water bills at the relevant building, estate, office, or precinct. Unless otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, trade, rent, or share your personal information for marketing purposes with third parties without your consent. 

We share Personal Information with vendors who perform services for Water Shedding, such as the servers that manage our email communications. These vendors are granted access to users' email addresses solely for the purpose of sending emails on our behalf. They use Your Personal Information only at our direction and in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Generally, the Personal Information You provide helps us to communicate effectively with You. For instance, we utilize Personal Information to respond to user inquiries, solicit feedback, provide technical support, and keep You informed about significant events and news, such as water tariff changes announced by local authorities during water shortages, updates to our mobile software application, and promotional activities offered. 

Non-Personal Information

Generally, we use Non-Personal Information to enhance the Service/Product and personalize the user experience. We also aggregate Non-Personal Information to track trends and analyze usage patterns on the Site. This Privacy Policy does not restrict our use or disclosure of Non-Personal Information, and we reserve the right to use and disclose such information to our partners, advertisers, and other third parties at our discretion. In the event of a business transaction, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or the sale of all or a portion of our assets, your Personal Information may be included among the assets transferred. You acknowledge and consent to such transfers being permissible under this Privacy Policy, and that any acquirer of our assets may continue to process your Personal Information as outlined in this Privacy Policy. If our information practices change at any time in the future, we will post those changes on the Site so that you may opt out of the new practices. We recommend checking the Site periodically if you have concerns about how your information is handled. 

How we protect information

We implement security measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access. Your online customer profile is safeguarded by your password, and we urge you to take steps to keep your personal information secure by changing your password periodically and by not disclosing it to individuals who do not directly contribute to your water bill. We further protect your information from potential security breaches by utilizing specific technological security measures provided by Google Firebase Authentication and accompanying Security Rules, which can be viewed at https://firebase.google.com/docs/rules/rules-and-auth. However, these measures do not guarantee that your information will not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed due to breaches of such firewalls and secure server software. Water Shedding utilizes cloud network infrastructure; thus, your personal information may potentially be stored, in full or in part, on servers located outside the borders of South Africa. By using our service/product, you accept the potential storage of your information outside the borders of South Africa and acknowledge that you understand and agree to assume these risks. More information can be found at https://cloud.google.com/about/locations. 

Your rights regarding the use of personal information

You have the right at any time to prevent us from contacting you for water consumption-related notifications, important water tariff changes, announcements, news, and/or for marketing purposes. When we announce important water tariff changes or news, tariff tier changes, and/or water bill updates through the mobile application notifications, you have the option to deactivate these notifications in the Settings section. When we send you promotional communication, you can opt out of further promotional communications by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in each promotional email. You can also indicate that you do not wish to receive marketing communications from us by sending an email to info@watershedding.com. Please note that, notwithstanding the promotional preferences you indicate by unsubscribing or opting out through email correspondence, we may continue to send you administrative emails, including, for example, periodic updates to our Privacy Policy and/or important service or software update information. 

Links to other websites

As part of the Service/Product, we may provide links to or compatibility with other websites and applications. However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites or the information and content they contain. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by us through the Site and the Service/Product. Consequently, this Privacy Policy does not apply to your use of a third-party website accessed by clicking a link on our Site or via our Service/Product. If you access or use the Service/Product through another website or application, then the privacy policy of that other website or application will govern your access to or use of that site or application. We encourage our users to read the privacy statements of other websites before using them.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Water Shedding reserves the right to modify this policy and our Terms of Service/Product at any time. We will inform you of significant changes to our Privacy Policy by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your online profile or by placing a prominent notice on our site. Significant changes will take effect thirty (30) days after such notification. Non-material changes or clarifications will be effective immediately. You should periodically check the site and this privacy page for updates.

Contact us

If You have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the practices of this Site, please get in touch with us by sending an email to info@watershedding.com 

Last Updated - This Privacy Policy was last updated on February 14, 2025.