About /
Privacy notice
Effective
DirtyWaterWatch is published by InfoBakery. This notice explains what we collect when you use dirtywaterwatch.org, why, and what we do with it. The site is intended for people in the United States.
In short
- You can use the whole site without an account or sign-in. There are none.
- We keep standard web statistics, looked at as totals, to run the site and see how it is used.
- The site sets no cookies of its own and shows no ads.
- We do not sell personal information or share it for advertising.
- If you write to us, we use your message to reply. We never publish it.
Web statistics and server logs
DirtyWaterWatch is hosted by Cloudflare. Every request your browser makes passes through Cloudflare's network, which records standard details about it, as most web hosts do:
- the page or file requested, and the time;
- the page you came from (the referrer), when your browser sends it;
- your IP address, and the approximate location it points to, such as the country, state or city;
- your browser and device type, from the information your browser sends with each request.
We see this information through Cloudflare's traffic analytics, as totals: how many pages were viewed, which pages, where visitors came from, and which browsers and devices they use. We use it to keep the site working, to plan for traffic and to protect the site from abuse. We do not use it to identify you or to build a profile of you. Request logs are kept for a short period, days rather than months; the totals are kept longer.
The site runs no advertising pixels and no third-party tracking script. If we add a statistics tool that runs in your browser, it will collect the same kinds of standard information, we will use it the same way, and we will name it in this notice before we turn it on.
Cookies and browser storage
DirtyWaterWatch sets no cookies. One setting is kept in your browser's local storage: the color theme you pick with the button in the header (light, dark or your system's setting). It stays on your device and is never sent to us. Clearing your browser's site data removes it.
Cloudflare, which screens traffic to the site for attacks, may set a short-lived security cookie on some visits. It is used to tell people from automated traffic, not for advertising.
The map
The background map comes from OpenFreeMap. Your browser fetches the map images directly from their servers, so OpenFreeMap receives your IP address and the area of the map you look at, as with any web request. The water statuses, outlets and launches on the map come from our own site.
The contact form
When you use the contact form, we collect what you type: your name, your email address, the topic, an optional subject and your message. We also receive your IP address with the message.
- Why: to read your message and reply to it, to act on corrections, and to keep the form free of spam. Your IP address lets us limit how many messages one connection can send in an hour.
- How it reaches us: the message is delivered by email to the people who run this site, through Resend, an email delivery service.
- What we do not do: we do not publish your message or your name, and we do not add you to a mailing list. When a message leads to a correction, the correction cites the public source, not you.
- How long: the hourly count tied to your IP address is deleted within about two hours. We keep messages for as long as we need them to answer and to keep a record of the corrections we make, and for no more than two years.
The form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not an automated program, is sending it. The check runs in your browser on the contact page and looks at signals from your browser and device; it does not ask you to solve a puzzle in most cases. Cloudflare handles that information under its privacy policy and its Turnstile privacy addendum. Turnstile loads only on the contact page.
How information is shared
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. We share it only:
- with the service providers that run the site for us (Cloudflare for hosting and security, Resend for email), and only for that work;
- when the law requires it, or to protect the site, its readers or others from harm or abuse.
Links to other sites
Our pages link to state agencies, sewer operators, the U.S. EPA, openboatlaunch.org and other sites, mostly to the original public notices. Those sites have their own privacy practices, which this notice does not cover.
Children
DirtyWaterWatch is a general-audience site and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us a message, tell us through the contact form and we will delete it.
Your choices
You can read every page without telling us anything about yourself. You can ask us what we hold from a message you sent, ask us to correct it or ask us to delete it, through the contact form. Some states give their residents these rights by law; we honor the requests wherever you live.
Security and location
The site is served only over encrypted connections (HTTPS), and access to messages is limited to the people who answer them. No method of sending or storing information is perfectly secure. Information is processed in the United States and in the other places where our service providers operate. To report a security problem, see Security.
Changes to this notice
When we change this notice, we post the new version here with a new effective date. If a change affects how we use information we already hold, we will say so on this page.
How to reach us
Questions about this notice or a request about your information: use the contact form.