Privacy Policy

The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) (ABN 54 117 907 285) is the peak industry body representing the urban water industry. Our members provide water and sewerage services to over 24 million customers in Australia and New Zealand and many of Australia's largest industrial and commercial enterprises.

WSAA collects your personal information, whether you are a member or non-member, so that we can provide you with products and services. WSAA is committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) (Privacy Act).

This policy explains the types of personal information that we may collect and hold, how that information is used and with whom the information is shared. References to "WSAA", "we", "us" and "our" in this Policy refer to the Water Services Association of Australia.

What kind of personal information do we collect?

WSAA collects personal information that is necessary for us to carry out our functions or activities or where required by law. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Your general personal information: including your names, titles, employer details, address, telephone number, email address and facsimile contact details (private and business).
• Payment information: including your credit card numbers, bank account information and membership status.
• Your health information: any information about your health, disabilities and special dietary needs that you provide to us when accessing or using our website, products or services (for example, any dietary requirements or accessibility requirements you may inform us about when booking a ticket to an event).
• Recruitment information: any information relevant to assessing your job application (for example, your working history and qualifications).

If you choose not to provide the information we request from you, we may not be able to provide you with the products and services you require, or assess your appropriateness for employment by WSAA.

How we collect your personal information

WSAA only collects personal information that is necessary for the performance of its functions or activities.

We collect most personal information from you directly (for example, when you purchase an item through the WSAA Shop, create a website user account, email us, visit the website, or deal with us personally or over the telephone).

We may collect your personal information from a third party where it is not reasonably practical to collect it from you directly (for example, we may collect your email address from your employer or contact your referees when you apply for a job with us).

How we use your personal information

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

• Processing membership applications.
• Processing payments.
• Delivering and improving our products and services.
• Providing electronic direct marketing (e.g. newsletters), facilitating your participation in member communities, and offering discounts and other member benefits.
• Inviting you to WSAA events.
• Internal accounting and administration.
• Regulatory reporting and compliance.

We won't use your health information without your consent, including as to how we can use that information (for example, organising catering for an event which meets your dietary requirements). We will comply with the Privacy Act at all times when handling your health information, and that includes dealing with your information in accordance with the general permitted situations and permitted health situations from time to time (such as to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of an individual if we are required to do so). You can withdraw your consent for us to use your health information at any time by contacting us using the contact details located at the end of this privacy policy.

Who do we share your personal information with?

We only disclose your personal information to third parties if we have your authority (written or verbal), we can reasonably assume you’ve consented (for example, if the organisation you work for or represent has agreed to be part of a project where a third party will be involved and therefore the third party requires your details), or for a purpose described in this privacy policy.

We may share your personal information with:

• Our third-party suppliers and service providers to enable the delivery of services contracted by your organisation.
• Payment system operators (e.g. merchants receiving card payments).
• Our employees.
• Professional advisers, dealers and agents.
• Our existing or potential agents, business partners or partners.
• Specific third parties authorised by you to receive information held by us.
• Other persons, including government agencies, regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies, or as required, authorised or permitted by law.

Do we store or share your information outside of Australia?

We may disclose personal information outside of Australia to cloud providers located in Canada who host our members' community web portal. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any overseas recipient will deal with such personal information in a way that is consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Using our website

The analytics system we use to gather information about your activity on our website uses cookies. A cookie is an electronic token that is passed between your browser and the server whenever a page is sent to you. The cookies exist only for the time you are accessing our website and we do not use these cookies to collect personal information. We do not use the information we do collect to identify you, but to aggregate results.

When you use our website some information is logged automatically, such as:

• your operating system
• your device and browser type
• what city you're in
• how long you spent on our site
• which pages, documents and videos you viewed. 

Our website contains links to other sites. Those links are provided for your convenience and may not remain current or be maintained. We have no control over and are not responsible for any content or privacy practices of those linked websites. As the privacy policies that apply to those other websites may differ substantially from ours, we encourage you to read them before using those websites.

How do we protect your personal information?

Your personal information may be stored as hardcopy documents, or as electronic data.

WSAA takes reasonable steps to protect any personal information that we hold about you from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. 

We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data stores and premises. We also maintain digital security over all electronic data in a manner consistent with ISO 27001 certification and use a third party to provide a secure and fully encrypted online payment facility for purchases made through our website.

We will only keep your information for as long as we need it or are lawfully required to keep it. After this time, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify such personal information.

What are your rights in relation to your information?

Here are the things you can ask us to do in relation to your information at any time by contacting us using the contact details set out below:

• Access: you can request a copy of your information.
• Correct: you can ask us to correct or update your information if it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. If you are a member with direct access to the WSAA website you can also correct some personal information by logging in and updating your account page.
• Withdraw consent: you can withdraw consent for us to collect, hold, use or disclose your personal information.
• Complain: you can express your concerns or complaints to us about your privacy or the way we are handling your information. We take your concerns seriously and will seek to fix any problems as soon as possible.

If you're not happy with the way we handle your query or handle your information (including our response to your request to access, correct, or delete your personal information), you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) by visiting the OAIC website.

Contact us

If you have any questions or complaints about how we handle your personal information, please contact: Business Manager, [email protected], (03) 8605 7608, Level 8, Suite 802, 401 Docklands Drive, Docklands, VIC, 3008.

Changes to this policy

We may change this policy in a way that affects the way we handle your personal information. We encourage you to check our website periodically to ensure that you are aware of our current privacy policy.

Find out more

You can find out more about the various privacy laws and other rules, regulations and standards we've mentioned in this policy by visiting the website of the OAIC.

Effective: 5 August 2024.