Privacy

We treat your privacy seriously

We know we’re an important part of your life, and we value our relationship with you. You can be sure that we treat your privacy seriously. The principles we follow are in line with NSW privacy laws, and we've carefully considered not only how we collect and use your information, but how we keep it safe and secure.

Collection

Security

Use

Awareness

Disclosure

Accuracy

Privacy on our website

Scams and hoaxes

Privacy enquiries or complaints

Email privacy@sydneywater.com.au or write to our privacy coordinator: 

Sydney Water
PO Box 399
PARRAMATTA  NSW  2124

Collection

We only collect relevant personal information for lawful purposes directly related to our activities.

We keep basic customer contact information such as your address, phone number and email address.

We may need to collect additional personal information from you if you apply for a concession, rebate or customer program.

We'll collect information related to, or necessary for your employment with us, including employment history and health information.

When we collect your personal information, we'll explain how we'll use it and who we might disclose it to.

Security

We protect personal information from misuse and unauthorised access.

We limit access to your information to those staff and contractors who need it for their work.

We securely dispose of information when it’s no longer required for business purposes.

Use

We only use your personal information in certain circumstances.

We take reasonable steps to check the accuracy of your personal information before we use it.

We don't give your information to other organisations to market non-Sydney Water products and services. If we're asked to give water usage details for a specific community or suburb, we only disclose the information if individual properties can't be identified.

We only use your information for the purpose it was collected, or for related purposes.

For example, we may use customer information for:

  • billing
  • debt collection
  • auditing or evaluation of our services
  • our maintenance activities
  • other Sydney Water products or services.

Awareness

We ensure that staff who deal with your information are aware of their obligations to protect privacy.

We make sure that our staff and contractors with access to your information abide by this policy.

Our staff are trained in how to collect, record, use and dispose of your information.

Disclosure

We never disclose information that we expect customers, or their representatives, to know.

We only discuss your customer account with you or your nominated representative. We'll establish your identity by asking you to confirm key information, usually the property address and account number.
 

Disclosing information to third parties

We'll only disclose personal information to third parties if we're authorised or required to by law. Some organisations, including the Police, Courts and some government departments, have the legal right to ask us to disclose information. We manage these requests with care to ensure we are acting within the law.

For example, we:

  • require Police to provide a warrant or subpoena
  • may provide information to the Energy and Water Ombudsman of NSW to resolve customer complaints
  • may be required to provide the information under a Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 request
  • are required to provide potential buyers with details of any outstanding debts on the property when a property is being sold under the Sydney Water Act 1994
  • may provide details of outstanding debts and payment arrangements options to a tenant of a property under the Sydney Water Act 1994.

Other reasons to disclose personal information to third parties:

  • We have your verbal or written authority. If you'd like to nominate a representative to deal with us, such as a spouse, friend or family member, you need to call or write to us. This will help us progress matters with your representative quickly and smoothly if you're unavailable. 
  • We can, in the circumstances, reasonably assume you've consented. We may, for example, share information with managing agents or solicitors who've been instructed by customers to act on their behalf. Managing agents commonly ask us to redirect a customer’s water bills to them.
  • There is a danger of injury or loss of life. If there's a serious bushfire, or other emergency situation, we may share your details with Fire and Rescue NSW or other emergency services if we believe it's necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat.

If our contractors need the information for essential activities. We use third parties to:

  • construct and maintain our assets
  • print and send bills
  • provide banking services
  • collect outstanding debts or perform credit checks
  • recruit staff
  • help with our claims management process
  • run marketing campaigns
  • occasionally conduct research or surveys
  • deliver technology solutions.
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Accuracy

You can access the personal information we hold for you at any time and ask us to amend it if it's incorrect.

We attempt to keep your contact information as up to date as possible. We'll confirm the details are correct when you contact us.

You can also request a copy of the information we hold about you and your property at any time.

Privacy on our website

We use analytics systems such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics to gather information about visitor activity on our website.

We don’t use these systems to identify you, but to aggregate results. This helps us evaluate and improve our services, and make our services easier for you to use.

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

  • your operating system
  • your IP address
  • your device and browser type
  • what city you’re in
  • how long you spend on our website
  • which pages, documents and videos you viewed.

We also take measures to protect us from malicious activities on our website, such as Google reCAPTCHA challenges.

To understand how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services, you can review Google Privacy & Terms.

Scams and hoaxes

We'll never contact you by email and ask for personal information such as your password, username, credit card or bank account details. If you're unsure about an email addressed from Sydney Water, please call us on 13 20 92 to check.