Privacy and Security
Denver Water is committed to protecting your individual privacy and securing your personal information, including personal identifying information, made available to us when you visit DenverWater.org.
Purpose
This policy outlines what type of information is made available to Denver Water when you visit DenverWater.org, how we may collect, use and store that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and the choices you have to control and correct the information we collect.
Basic information collected for website measurement (e.g., cookies)
When a computer is used to access information on DenverWater.org, the following basic information is automatically received and stored by web servers:
- Your computer’s internet protocol address (IP address), which establishes your computer location on the internet and allows other computers, such as those hosting DenverWater.org, to send it content and other information;
- The date, time, and duration of a website visit;
- If a computer accesses a page on DenverWater.org through a link from an external page not hosted on our site, the URL of that referring page;
- Your basic computer information, such as the type and version of web browser, operating system, screen resolution and connection speed;
- The specific pages accessed during a visit on DenverWater.org and the amount of data (measured in number of bytes) transmitted during the visit.
Denver Water website measurement and analytics
Denver Water uses web measurement technologies to analyze data automatically collected during site visits. We analyze this information in order to provide an optimal user experience on DenverWater.org and to understand how the public is using our website. This is currently done through two third-party analytics providers, Google Analytics and Siteimprove, by tracking persistent cookies, session cookies and first-party cookies.
Our third-party analytics providers do not receive any personal identifying information to track the browsing of individual users. We do view aggregated analyses prepared by our third-party analytics providers, but these analyses do not include any personally identifiable information. Please review the Google Analytics and Siteimprove websites for additional information about their use of cookies and what is collected.
Another third-party, Interpersonal Frequency, queries a portion of site visitors through its Voice of Citizen® survey to determine why people are coming to the site, whether they accomplished what they came to do, and how satisfied they are in their visit. This survey is voluntary and no personally identifiable information is collected.
Third-party website measurement
Certain pages on DenverWater.org may include web content from third parties, such as embedded video, social media feeds and other externally hosted services. You should consult the privacy policies of these third parties for further information.
How you can control website measurement and customization technologies
Visitors can control aspects of website measurement and data collection technologies by choosing to disable cookies.
You can choose not to accept cookies from any website, including DenverWater.org, by changing the settings of your browser. You can also delete cookies stored in your browser at any time. Visitors who choose to disable these settings will still continue to have access to comparable information on our site.
At any time, while interacting with our site(s) you may decline participation in any activity that asks for information (e.g., surveys, web-based apps or email notifications). Your choice not to participate will not affect your ability to use other features on DenverWater.org.
Personal information voluntarily provided about yourself (e.g., via online web forms, etc.)
Personal information submitted voluntarily to us through online web forms, email subscriptions and messages, or through interactive web-based applications will be used to respond to your message and to help us respond to your requests. The information you submit will remain private; however, as a governmental agency, we are governed by the Colorado Open Records Act. Any information that we receive through use of our site is subject to the same provisions as information provided on paper. We do not sell, rent, exchange, or otherwise disclose information we collect to outside organizations or persons outside of Denver Water.
This information is not reported or used in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information and will not be released to any outside parties unless required by law.
In some instances, we may host content on a third-party website such as Facebook or Twitter. Your activity on those third-party sites is governed by the security and privacy policies of the third-party sites.
User Accounts and Online Transactions through DenverWater.org
Certain web-based applications accessible through DenverWater.org may require users to create an account to access details about customer accounts (i.e., Denver Water Online, also known as Manage My Account). Account creation may require users to provide a valid email address, a first and last name or telephone number. We use this information to communicate with you and to identify content you create or request with the account. Session cookies are required with users’ accounts in order to maintain a user's login while interacting with these sites. When applicable, please refer to the specific privacy policy.
Visitors to DenverWater.org have the option of paying water bills online by using ACI Worldwide’s Speedpay service. By clicking these links, you will leave DenverWater.org and be directed to ACI Worldwide’s site where you will enter your account number and customer ID number as it appears on your bill. ACI Worldwide is a secure service used by Denver Water to process online payments. Information regarding the types of personal information collected by ACI Worldwide, how it is used and how it is safeguarded may be obtained by clicking the privacy policy on its website.
Denver Water may link to websites created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations. We provide these links as a service to our users at our discretion. When you follow a link to an external site, you are leaving DenverWater.org and are no longer subject to our privacy and security policies, but those of the externally hosted website. Denver Water does not endorse any external site, the views they express, or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information contained in an externally linked site.
Denver Water maintains official content on several third-party websites to engage with the community and communicate with users through multiple channels. All activities on third-party sites are governed by the security and privacy policies of the third party.
Denver Water maintains lists of subscribers who have asked to receive periodic email updates about various topics. This includes a subscription to weekly headlines from our blog; periodic updates about spring runoff affecting Summit County; updates about the Lead Reduction Program; and a newsletter about our Youth Education Program. Denver Water customers also receive personalized water use reports and recommended tips during the summer. Any recipient of a Denver Water email may unsubscribe from future messages via a link at the top or bottom of each email message. We do not sell, rent, exchange with other agencies, or otherwise disclose our list of subscribers to persons or organizations outside of Denver Water unless required by law. Denver Water may use this list of subscribers for its business purposes. As a governmental agency, we are governed by the Colorado Open Records Act. Any information that we receive through our email subscription services is treated the same as information provided on paper for purposes of the Colorado Open Records Act and Denver Water’s retention of records.
Email messages sent from Denver Water to email subscribers may include tracking mechanisms to provide basic analytics such as the percentage of recipients who opened an email, clicked links within the email, shared or forwarded its contents, and information about the email clients used by various email recipients. Our email service providers, such as Mailchimp, also offer the capability to view individual data about whether an email was opened and what links were clicked.
We take several precautions to protect our site, DenverWater.org, including information collected by our site or voluntarily submitted to DenverWater.org or a third-party website. DenverWater.org is hosted by a third-party vendor and they utilize industry standard technology practices and technical controls to protect your information and the integrity of the site. For example, Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used for encryption in the transfer of personal information over the internet (TLS), using firewalls and intrusion detection systems to safeguard your personal information. Our controls also include, but are not limited to, maintaining strict technical procedures to ensure the integrity of systems and data on DenverWater.org. We routinely review our processes and systems to verify compliance with industry best practices and the highest level of security standards.
During a session on DenverWater.org, a user may affirmatively submit information to Denver Water by, among other means, email, filling in and submitting online forms. Denver Water encourages users of its website and other digital applications to only provide information that is required or requested, and to avoid including unneeded, personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers.