NI Water (including Northern Ireland Water Alpha Ltd and its employees) is the sole provider of public water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland. We are a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) and a Government-Owned Company (GoCo), established in April 2007. For the purposes of GDPR, we are the 'controller' of any personal information we process for the Company's purposes.

We sometimes require the services of external third parties to process your personal information on our behalf. These companies are referred to as 'processors'. Any data processors NI Water users also have their own legal responsibility for handling your data.

This Privacy Notice relates to the collection and use of the personal information of individuals, sole traders, and individuals in non-limited business partnerships. Although data about larger commercial entities is not considered 'personal' information (and therefore not captured by Data Protection legislation), where NI Water can identify an individual acting in their professional capacity, either directly or indirectly, the legislation will apply (e.g., if NI Water has the name and number of a business contact on file, or their business email address identifies them, GDPR is relevant).

NI Water collects and processes personal information including:

1. Name and contact details.
2. Mobile phone numbers, for text/SMS updates or surveys, or to be contacted for other lawful reasons including improving customer service provision.
3. Surveillance and CCTV system identifiable data via entrance to a NI Water site.
4. Special Category (sensitive) personal data e.g. in relation to a customer who applies for inclusion in our Customer Care Register.
5. Call Recordings.
6. Biographically significant property data e.g. flooding history.
7. Nominee details if you have nominated a third party to speak to us about your account.
8. Secure, remote, real-time access to specific contractor vehicles' GPS to assist with measuring response times, maintaining and improving security, operational/asset awareness, etc.
9. Billing data including meter readings, meter serial number and consumption data etc.
10. Financial data including, payment history, bank details where applicable etc.

If you register for NI Water’s online, digital, self-service portal, NI Water will process your personal information in association with your applications for:-

1. Managing your account and paying your bill.
2. New Connections for water and wastewater to our network.
3. Sewer Adoptions for sites (Article 161) and
4. discharging trade effluent.

Such processing is secure, necessary to fulfil the stated purpose (billing and the recovery of outstanding payments, applying for a new connection, sewer adoption, or trade effluent discharge) and lawfully processed under either the performance of a contract, to perform a task in the public interest, to comply with the law, or your consent.

Much of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you to help provide you with our services; help manage our functions, our relationships, and to improve our services; for handling complaints, claims, and correspondence; to ensure accurate and timely non-domestic billing; for dealing with tender processes; in processing applications to take part in the various Schemes we offer; via education team training, awareness and outreach events; for recruitment; and for consumer research and understanding how well we are providing our services to you.

NI Water also processes personal information, including Special Category (sensitive) data, from customers who apply to avail of a range of free, priority, additional services for consumers who require a continuous water supply, or those requiring extra help accessing our services (NI Water's Customer Care Register).

With regard to a non-domestic customer's responsibility for paying their bills, if a supply of water is available for use in connection with a property, then water charges are payable for that property. The information that NI Water holds about customers may be used to pursue and recover outstanding payments and in doing so, NI Water's Billing and Debt Management supplier, may lawfully use third party debt collection agencies to assist us. Debt Collection Agencies, who work on our behalf, are members of the Credit Services Association and operate within a set of standards and guidelines, including our Code of Practice.

NI Water may legally share information with a select range of organisations and suppliers to help us deliver our services to you, or where there is a lawful basis to do so, (e.g., our operational contractors, call centre staff, etc.).

NI Water also lawfully receives personal information from some third parties; (e.g., His Majesty's Revenue & Customs, or other government agencies, such as Land & Property Services).

Under GDPR, the lawful bases NI Water relies on for processing this information are:

1. Public task - where the processing is necessary for our performance as a water and sewerage services undertaker (e.g., to attend operational issues for which the Company is responsible).
2. Consent - where you have given your informed consent for us to process your personal information.
3. Contracts - where our processing is necessary for the performance of or to enable us to enter into a contract to which you are a party (e.g., for the processing of pre-development enquiries, or for tender competitions).
4. Legal Obligations - if the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (e.g., where we need to process your data to comply with our legislative or statutory obligations).
5. Vital interests - to protect someone's life (e.g. if there is a risk to you and/or your household due to water quality issues).

On the limited occasions, NI Water processes Special Category (sensitive) personal data, we meet one of the specific conditions in Article 9 of the UK GDPR (e.g., explicit consent and/or Vital Interests for inclusion on our Customer Care Register).

NI Water has notified its processing of personal information to and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (Z9774154).

NI Water will process the personal information you provide in a manner that complies with applicable Data Protection legislation. NI Water will endeavour to keep your information accurate and up-to-date, not keep it for longer than needed, and keep it secure, only permitting access to those who need to use it.

In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, NI Water has put in place appropriate technical, physical and organisational procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect about you.

NI Water keeps personal information for various retention periods (dependent upon record type) that are determined by one of the following: the law, business needs, or our regulatory requirements. These review and retention periods are detailed in the appropriate NI Water Information Asset Register. A copy of any Register can be requested from the Data Protection Officer, whose contact details are provided later in this notice. We will then dispose of your information securely.

Occasionally, NI Water may use a contractor outside the UK to process personal data, where such processing is lawful.

Under data protection law, you have rights we need to make you aware of. The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information.

GDPR states that a data controller (like NI Water) must have a lawful basis for processing your information. We have identified the lawful bases for which we process your information. These vary depending on how and why we have your data. These are:

• Your right of access

  You have the right to ask NI Water for copies of your personal information that we hold. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process.

  NI Water has a Subject Access Request (SAR) form, which you can send to us, with identity verification, to request a copy of your personal information. You can read more about this right here on the ICO site.

• Your right to rectification

  You have the right to ask NI Water to correct information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies. You can read more about this right here on the ICO site.

• Your right to erasure

  You have the right to ask NI Water to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. This is sometimes referred to as “the right to be forgotten”.You can read more about this right here on the ICO site.

• Your right to restriction of processing

  You have the right to ask NI Water to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances. Where we cannot comply with your request, you will be told why. You can read more about this right here on the ICO site.

• Your right to object to processing

  You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because the process forms part of our public tasks, or is in our legitimate interests. You can read more about this right here on the ICO site.

• Your right to data portability

  This only applies to information you have given us. You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another, or give it to you. The right only applies if we are processing information based on your consent or under, or in talks about entering into, a contract and the processing is automated. You can read more about this right here on the ICO site.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. We have one month to reply.

NI Water's Data Protection Officer ensures we respect your rights and comply with the law. If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer at the following address:

Data Protection Officer
Northern Ireland Water
IT Suite
Westland House
40 Old Westland Road
Belfast
BT14 6TE

Telephone: 07876483105
Email: imu@niwater.com

If you are unhappy about how we process your personal information, you can raise your complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office at the address below.

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate)
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
Website: www.ico.org.uk

• We continually review and update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes in our services as well as to comply with changes in data protection legislation. We would therefore encourage you to review this Notice on a regular basis.
• NI Water's Data Protection Policy is available on request from our Data Protection Officer.
• For information regarding Cookies NI Water's Cookie Policy refers: https://www.niwater.com/cookie-policy/
• NI Water's website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those other sites. When you leave our site, please be sure to read the privacy statements of each website that collects personal information about you. This Privacy Notice applies solely to information collected and processed by NI Water.