WaterVetted

Privacy Policy

Last updated:

This policy explains how WaterVetted Editorial (“we”, “us”) handles information when you visit https://www.watervetted.com (the “Site”). WaterVetted is a free, independent comparison site: there is no account to create, nothing to buy, and no newsletter to join.

The short version

  • Analytics cookies are opt-in. Google Analytics 4 starts with storage denied. Cookies are set only if you choose “Accept analytics” on the banner.
  • The calculators and the filter-match quiz run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or to anyone else.
  • We do not sell, rent or trade personal data, and we run no advertising or cross-site tracking pixels.
  • The only personal data you can give us is an email you choose to send.

Information we collect

  • Information you give us. If you email us, we receive your address and whatever you include in the message, so that we can reply or action a correction you report.
  • Technical data logged by our infrastructure. Our web server and our CDN record standard request data — IP address, browser and device type, requested URL, referring page, and the date and time of the request. This is used to serve pages, keep the Site available, and detect abuse. We do not use it to build reader profiles.
  • What we do not collect. No accounts, passwords or payment details (there is nothing to buy), no special-category data such as health or political information, and no data purchased from brokers.

Cookies and analytics

There are two possible cookies related to analytics. The first is essential: it records your choice (watervetted_consent) so we do not ask on every visit. The second set — Google Analytics (_ga and related) — is strictly opt-in.

We use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-PSFVYCTZ34) under Google Consent Mode v2. Defaults are denied: until you accept, Google receives only a cookieless, aggregated signal, and no analytics cookie is written to your device. Accepting switches analytics storage on immediately; rejecting (or doing nothing) leaves storage denied. Advertising storage and advertising personalisation stay permanently denied.

Google’s handling of analytics data is governed by Google’s privacy policy. You can also install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. Clearing the consent cookie makes the banner ask again.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser at any time; it will not restrict any part of this Site.

Affiliate links and commissions

WaterVetted is reader-supported. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links to manufacturer websites, at no extra cost to you. When you follow one of those links, the merchant or its affiliate network may set a cookie in your browser so that a later purchase can be attributed to this Site. That cookie is set by them, not by us, and is governed by their own privacy policy.

We never receive personal information about you from an affiliate network and we cannot see what you bought — only aggregate commission reports. Affiliate relationships never change our rankings: the methodology we publish is the only ranking input, and a commission rate is never one of them. Outbound merchant links open in a new tab and are marked as such in the page.

Third parties we rely on

  • Cloudflare provides our CDN, DNS and security filtering. It processes request metadata to deliver the Site and block abusive traffic. Cloudflare operates a global network, so this may involve processing outside your country under Cloudflare’s own safeguards and privacy policy.
  • Our hosting provider runs the web server that answers requests and keeps the access logs described below.
  • Merchants and affiliate networks see a visit only after you click an outbound link, and only from that point on.
  • Google Analytics processes page-view and device signals as described above, only with analytics storage granted. See Google’s privacy policy.

We do not share personal data for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not sell it.

How long we keep data

  • Access logs: rotated daily and retained for 14 days, then deleted.
  • Email: kept only while needed to answer you and to honor a correction, then deleted on request.
  • Analytics: retained by Google under its retention settings for the property; we do not keep a separate copy of visitor-level analytics records.

Your rights

Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation applies, you have the right to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to our processing of your personal data, to receive it in a portable form, to withdraw consent at any time, and to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority.

Where the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) applies, you have the right to know what we collect, to request deletion or correction, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information — we do neither — and to not be discriminated against for exercising those rights.

To exercise any of these, email [email protected]. We may ask you to confirm you can access the address you write from; that is the whole verification process, because it is the only data we are likely to hold.

Legal bases for processing (GDPR)

We rely on legitimate interests to operate a secure, working website and to prevent abuse; on consent for optional analytics cookies, which you can withdraw at any time; and on legal obligation where we are required to keep records.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

We do not use analytics for advertising or cross-site tracking. Analytics storage starts denied until you accept on the cookie banner; rejecting (or ignoring the banner) leaves it denied.

Children’s privacy

This Site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets the higher age). If you believe a child has sent us personal data, write to us and we will delete it.

Security

The Site is served over HTTPS with HTTP Strict Transport Security enabled, and it is a static export with no database and no login. We keep the data we hold to the minimum described above. No system can be guaranteed perfectly secure, but there is very little here to expose.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the “last updated” date at the top changes with it. Continuing to use the Site after a change means the revised policy applies.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or a data request: [email protected]. See also our terms of use and our methodology.