Water District Bill, LLC ("we," "us," or "our") operates waterdistrictbill.com, the WUBS billing system for water districts, and our training courses and store. This policy explains what information we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
Two different situations
- Our website and training store. When you visit waterdistrictbill.com, ask for a demo, or buy training, we decide what is collected and how it is used. This policy covers that fully.
- The WUBS billing system, used by your water district. If you are a customer of a water district that uses WUBS, or you work for one, your district decides what information it keeps about your account. We store and process it on the district's behalf, only to provide the service. For questions about your account or bills, or to correct your information, contact your water district. We will help the district answer any request.
What we collect on our website
- Demo requests: your name, email address and district name; your state, approximate number of active services and phone number, if you give them; your answers to "What would help most?" and "How do you bill today?", if you choose any; anything you write in the message; and when you sent it. We also record your internet (IP) address, which we use to stop abuse of the form, and how you reached us: the page you first landed on, the website that referred you, and any campaign (UTM) tags in the link, so we know how people find us.
- Our correspondence with you: if you email us, call us, meet with us or send us documents about our services, we keep a record of what was said and when, and copies of the documents we exchange, such as quotes, proposals and agreements.
- Website analytics: on our website and training store we use Google Analytics, which uses cookies to record how visitors use the site: pages viewed, time on the site, browser and device type, approximate location, which buttons and links are used, and whether a demo request or purchase was completed. It never records what you type into a form. This is tied to a cookie on your device, so it is not anonymous. You can block it with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (opens in new tab) or your browser's settings.
- Server logs: our web server records standard access logs (IP address, time, page requested) for security and troubleshooting.
What we collect in our training store
- Your order: buyer name, email address, organization (optional), the courses and number of seats, and the order total.
- Payment: you pay on a secure form provided by Stripe. Your card details go directly to Stripe; we never receive or store your card number. We keep Stripe's reference for the payment.
- Learners: each seat comes with an enrollment link. When a learner opens it, they create an account with our course platform partner, MyDeskCoach, which receives what the learner enters there under its own privacy policy.
- Your cart is kept in your own browser until you check out; it is not sent to us before then.
What the WUBS billing system stores for water districts
Depending on what the district uses, WUBS stores:
- Customer accounts: names, mailing and service addresses, phone and email, account numbers, meters, and how the customer prefers to receive bills and notices, including their preferred language.
- Billing records: meter readings and water use, bills, payments, credits and other adjustments, payment plans, and notices sent (letters, emails and door notices).
- Assistance records: if a district records that a household qualifies for income-based assistance, that status and the program. Only the district's office staff, and the customer, can see it. A WUBS platform administrator can also view it to support the district, and each such view is logged.
- Field records: when a meter reader records a reading or posts a door notice, WUBS saves the time, the reader's location (GPS) at that moment, and any photo they take.
- Online payments: customers pay on Stripe's secure page, to the district's own Stripe account. WUBS never receives or stores a full card number, security code, bank routing number or bank account number. For auto-pay it keeps only Stripe's reference to the saved card or bank account, whether it is a card or a bank account, and the last 4 digits.
- User accounts: for district staff, board members and customers who register: name, email, role, a passcode (stored only as a secure hash), and, if two-step sign-in is used, a phone number or authenticator setup.
- Activity records: a record of changes staff make to accounts, for the district's audit trail.
How we use information
- To respond to demo requests and talk with you about our services.
- To process training orders, deliver enrollment links, and provide receipts and support.
- To provide, secure, back up and support the WUBS billing system for the districts that subscribe.
- To understand how our website is used so we can improve it.
- To prevent abuse, fraud and security problems.
We do not sell personal information, and we don't share a district's data with other districts. We don't use a district's data for anything except providing the service to that district. We may use combined, anonymized statistics that can't identify any district, person or account to improve the system.
Who we share information with
Only the service providers we need to run the website, store and billing system, each for its own purpose:
- FastComet: our hosting provider (US-based servers) for the website, the billing system and our email mailboxes.
- Stripe: online payments, both water bills and auto-pay (to each district's own Stripe account) and our training store.
- Brevo: delivering emails from WUBS, such as bill notices, notices, receipts, sign-in codes and password resets. A district may instead send through its own mail server.
- Twilio: text-message sign-in codes, when a district turns on text-message two-step sign-in.
- Smarty: checking mailing addresses that staff enter.
- DigitalOcean: a server we run there turns bills and notices into PDF files for printing.
- MyDeskCoach: delivering training courses to learners.
- Google: website analytics and web fonts.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the security of our systems or users.
How we protect information
All connections are encrypted (HTTPS, TLS 1.2 or higher). Passcodes are stored only as secure hashes. Stored secrets, such as payment-processor and email keys, are encrypted. Access inside WUBS is limited by role, every request is checked against the district it belongs to, and districts can require two-step sign-in. Databases are backed up daily, and backups are kept for at least 30 days.
How long we keep information
- District data: for as long as the district subscribes. When a district leaves, its data is available to it for export for 60 days, then deleted; copies in backups are deleted as the backups rotate out.
- Demo requests and our correspondence with you: 2 years after our last contact. If your district becomes a customer, they're kept with its contract records for as long as it subscribes.
- Training orders: 2 years.
- Server logs: according to our hosting provider's retention settings.
- Website analytics: detailed Google Analytics data is kept for at most 14 months.
Browser storage and cookies
- Google Analytics sets cookies on our website and training store (see above). The WUBS billing system itself has no analytics.
- Stripe sets cookies on payment pages to prevent fraud.
- The WUBS app keeps your sign-in token in your browser for the session, or until you sign out if you choose "Remember me." The meter reader app also keeps readings, photos and a 14-day offline sign-in on the device until they are synced, and saves pages so it works without a signal.
- The training cart is kept in your browser's local storage.
Your choices
- Water district customers: contact your district to see, correct or ask about your account information.
- Demo requests and training orders: email us to see, correct or delete what we hold about you.
- Analytics: block cookies or use the opt-out add-on linked above.
Children
Our website and WUBS are for water districts and their customers. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date.
Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data: Water District Bill, LLC, support@waterdistrictbill.com.