Greater Western Water ABN 70 066 902 467, including its employees and service providers, are committed to protecting the Personal Information of all our customers and other individuals.
Potential customer privacy incidents
As part of the upgrades to our billing system, some customer details were migrated incorrectly. This has resulted in some bills being sent to outdated or secondary postal or email addresses. This is an ongoing issue that we are working hard to fix.
Updating your account information helps us to keep your information secure. Log in to My GWW to make sure that your details are correct, including your name, address and contact information.
This Privacy Statement applies to the Greater Western Water website with the domain name www.gww.com.au (‘website’). The website provides you with information about our organisation, our activities and our water, sewerage and trade waste services.
We make available a number of transactions over the web through our websites, and we encourage you to submit feedback to help us improve our services.
We trust this Privacy Statement will assure you that we have taken your privacy and security concerns into account when you use this website, and have addressed these requirements appropriately. In this Privacy Statement the expression ‘Personal Information’ is used to refer to information or an opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent or can be reasonably ascertained from the information or opinion in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.
If you have any queries regarding this Privacy Statement and/or privacy policies in general please contact GWW Privacy Officer, Greater Western Water, Locked Bag 350, Sunshine VIC 3020 or call 13 44 99.
Our handling of Personal Information collected on the websites is also governed by our Privacy Policy
This Privacy Statement applies to all users who access the website. A user who accesses the websites will be deemed to have agreed to comply with this Privacy Statement.
We will post any changes to this Privacy Statement on the websites, so we encourage you to check this Privacy Statement from time to time. Any information collected under this current Privacy Statement will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Statement. After any changes take effect, all new information collected, if any, will be subject to any revised Privacy Statement.
Collection of personal information
The personal information we collect about you depends on how you use the websites. Some parts of the websites may require you to provide certain Personal Information when transacting with us. Personal Information provided by customers on various forms or for specific transactions, may include name, address and credit card details. We collect this Personal Information to enable us to provide the services to you. We may not be able to provide those services if we are not provided with the Personal Information requested.
You may browse some information-only areas of the websites without providing any Personal Information.
Greater Western Water also collects and stores anonymous information about visitors to the websites through our webserver. Such information - e.g. number, date and time of visits to the websites - is collected for statistical purposes only, to assist us to improve our service. This information is not considered Personal Information, as it does not identify individuals.
The websites use "cookies" (small data files that are sent to your computer) so that you may not need to enter your login details more than once during the same Internet session. These cookies do not collect Personal Information and are only used at the time that you log on and only for that Internet session. If you do not wish to receive any cookies you may set your browser to refuse cookies. This may mean that you will not be able to take full advantage of the services on our websites.
Information use and disclosure
Greater Western Water will not use or disclose Personal Information collected through the websites for purposes unrelated to the purpose for which it is collected unless such use or disclosure is required or authorised by law, or with your consent.
We collect Personal Information to help us to provide services requested by individuals. Some related purposes for which Personal Information may be used and disclosed include:
purposes related to planning, market research, service development, security, testing and risk management
purposes connected with the operation, administration, development or enhancement of the websites
where Greater Western Water suspects that fraud or unlawful activity has been, is being or may be engaged in.
We may provide Personal Information we collect through the websites to third parties. The types of third parties to whom we would disclose Personal Information may include:
our service providers who assist us in providing the websites and our services (for example, internet and technology service providers, tradespeople and mail houses)
statutory agencies, local government or the Victorian Government upon request to facilitate their compliance with their statutory obligations and laws
financial institutions and other organisations which facilitate payment services
your executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or attorney, and
your agents such as your financial or legal advisers.
Data security
Greater Western Water takes reasonable steps to keep any Personal Information in its possession secure and to protect that Personal Information from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Credit Card details, where supplied, are encrypted during transmission to our bank for processing.
Personal Information provided by customers on various forms or for specific transactions, including name and address and credit card details are accessible only to authorised personnel such as those staff involved in the processing of these forms/transactions.
When using the websites you should be aware that no information transmitted over the internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. Although Greater Western Water strives to protect such information, Greater Western Water does not warrant the security of any information transmitted to it over the internet and you do so at your own risk.
How we handle email and contact us/feedback information or other electronic messages
We may preserve the content of any email or ‘Contact us/Feedback’ or other electronic message that we receive. Any Personal Information contained in those messages will only be used or disclosed in ways set out in this Privacy Statement. The message content may be monitored by our service providers or our employees for purposes including troubleshooting, compliance auditing and maintenance or where email abuse is suspected.
Access, corrections and further information
If you wish to request access to or correction of your Personal Information which Greater Western Water holds about you as a result of our information collection practices outlined in this Privacy Statement, you may do so at any time by contacting us on the details below during normal business hours. Please provide as much detail as you can about the particular information you require, in order to help us retrieve it. An access fee may be charged to cover the costs of our providing the information to you.
If you require information about the way Greater Western Water manages Personal Information or you have any queries and/or complaints contact us by:
writing to: Legal Counsel – Governance FOI & Privacy Greater Western Water Locked Bag 350 Sunshine VIC 3020
If you are making a complaint or require a response, please include contact information, such as your name, address and email address or phone number so that we can provide a response or contact you directly to discuss your query.
