Privacy Policy

• Most of WaterDecoder works without an account. Your answers in our tools are stored in your own browser unless you choose to save them to an account. Some tools send what you enter to us so they can answer you (section 1).
• We receive personal information when you choose to give it to us: for example, an email address to sign in, a home you save, a lab report you upload, a message you send or a quote request.
• We measure how our tools are used without storing an identifier for you. Optional analytics run only if you choose Accept in the cookie banner.
• Some features send what you type, or a lab report you upload, to an AI service (Anthropic) that works for us. Section 6 lists which features do this.
• We do not sell your personal information, and we do not run advertising on WaterDecoder.

You can use the tools (Water Check, Decode, Finder, Compare, the calculators and others) without signing in. The answers you give, the lists you build and the results you keep are stored in your browser on your device, so you can pick up where you left off. Section 10 explains this storage.

Some actions send information to us so the tool can answer you. For example, when you enter a ZIP code, we look it up in our own database of public water-system data, and when you ask a question in an "Ask" box, we send it to our AI service (section 6). We do not connect these requests to an account unless you are signed in and choose to save the result.

How sign-in works. WaterDecoder has no passwords for visitors. To sign in, you give us your email address and we send you a magic link. The link works once and expires after 30 minutes.

What we keep. Your email address, your name if you choose to give one, whether you have confirmed your address, and when. When you sign in, we set a sign-in cookie on your device (section 10). A sign-in lasts 30 days and is renewed while you keep using the site. We also keep a record on our servers of each active sign-in so we can end it when you sign out.

Security records. We keep a record of sign-in and account security events (for example, a sign-in, a sign-out or a refused attempt). These records identify you by internal reference numbers and one-way codes, not by your email address or your network address.

Your browser also remembers the email address you signed in with, so the site can show it to you. Signing out removes it.

When you are signed in, you can choose to save information in My Water:

• Homes. A home is the name you give it (for example, "Home" or "Lake cabin"). We do not ask for your street address.
• Saved reports. A saved report is a fixed copy of a tool result at the moment you saved it. Depending on the tool, it can include your water readings, the place and date of a test, your water source (for example, a private well or a public water system), the equipment you have and the options you chose.
• Your water record. Facts about a home that you confirm, such as test readings, the water source, equipment you have installed and your goals.
• Plans, progress and lists. Treatment plans you save, the steps you tick off and products you shortlist.
• Alerts you turn on for a home (section 8).
• Items from this device. If you choose to, you can bring items saved in this browser (such as filters you track or products you bought) into a home. Nothing is sent until you press the button to do so.

We use this information only to show it back to you, to keep it up to date when you ask and to provide the features you turn on. You can edit or delete any of it in My Water (section 12).

ZIP codes you type. When you enter a ZIP code, we use it to look up public water-system and area data in our own database. A ZIP code you enter can appear in the address of the page you are on (for example, as part of a Water Check link), so it can also appear in your browser history and in the technical records our hosting providers keep (section 9). If you save a result that includes a ZIP code, it is saved with that result. When we measure tool usage, a ZIP code lookup is recorded only by its first three digits.

Approximate area from your connection. The homepage can show public water data for your general area before you type anything. To do this, our network provider adds an approximate postal code for the area your connection comes from. We use it only to choose which public data to show, and we do not store it. If it is not available, the homepage asks you for a ZIP code instead.

We do not use precise location. WaterDecoder does not ask your browser for its GPS or device location.

You can upload a water-quality lab report (a PDF, JPG or PNG file of up to 5 MB) so Water Check can read the values for you. Please upload water reports only, never medical or other personal health records.

What happens to the file.

1. We check the file on our own servers. If a file looks like a medical or personal health document, we refuse it and keep nothing from it.
2. At present, we can read only PDF files that contain text. Photos and scanned pages cannot be read yet and are not processed further.
3. If the file passes these checks, we read the values from it and show them to you to check. To help with this, we send the file to our AI service (section 6), which suggests values. This happens before you confirm anything. You check each value against your report before it is used.
4. We hold the file and the values we read for up to 30 minutes so you can finish. If you start saving the report to My Water, we hold them for up to 6 hours so you can complete sign-in. If you do not finish, the file and values are deleted automatically when the hold time ends.
5. We keep the file longer only if you choose Save securely to My Water while signed in. We then keep it privately in the home you choose until you delete it, the home or your account.

Other tools. The "read my lab report" option in our hardness, well and softener-sizing tools reads the file on our servers to fill in the form. These tools do not keep the file and do not send it to an AI service.

Our record of your choices. For uploads, we keep a record of the steps you agreed to (for example, that you asked us to analyze a report or to keep it) and the version of the notice you saw. This record does not contain the file, its name or its contents. We keep it as evidence of what you agreed to, including after the file is deleted.

Sharing a public report. If you keep a report from a public water system, you may separately choose to contribute its public figures to our area data. We check every contribution by hand before using it, and it does not carry your name, home or file.

Some features use AI models from Anthropic (the maker of Claude), which processes requests on our behalf as our service provider. Under its commercial terms, Anthropic does not use what we send it to train its models, and it deletes that information after a limited period, unless it must keep it longer for safety or legal reasons. Requests are sent over encrypted connections, and we do not attach your account details (such as your name or email address) to them. The AI service does receive whatever you type or upload, so anything personal in your text or file is included. Lab reports often show a name and address.

Please do not include personal details such as your name, address or health information in a question.

Voice input. Some tools let you speak instead of type. Speech recognition is provided by your browser, not by WaterDecoder, and many browsers send the audio to their maker's speech service to turn it into text. We receive only the text, which you can edit before using it.

Feedback form. When you send feedback, we keep your message, the type of feedback, the page you were on (with any share codes and search values removed from its address), your browser type and version, and your browser window size, so we can see what you saw. Your name and email address are optional. We keep them only if you type them, and only to reply. We may also receive a copy by email.

"Was this helpful?" answers. If you answer, we keep your answer, the result it was about, any reasons you chose and any comment you write. Email addresses and phone numbers in a comment are masked before it is saved. Comments are not published.

Community reviews and questions. If you post a review, question or answer about a product, we check it before publishing. Once it is approved, the display name you choose, the location you enter (if any), your rating and your text are public on the product page. Do not include contact details or anything you would not want published.

Installer or dealer quote requests. If you ask us to find a local dealer or installer, we keep your name, email address, ZIP code, your description of what you need, the page you asked from and, if you give them, your phone number and whether you agreed to be contacted by phone. We may share your name, contact details and what you need with one dealer we match you with, and we tell you by email when we do. If we cannot find a match, we do not share your details with anyone. To protect the form from automated abuse, it uses a security check from Cloudflare, which receives technical information about your browser and your network address.

Email to us. If you write to hello@waterdecoder.com, we keep your message and our reply so we can deal with your request.

• Sign-in and confirmation emails, when you ask for them.
• Alerts you turn on, for example about a product recall, a change in a certification, a price change, a reminder to replace a filter or retest a well, or a change in what your home's treatment is recorded as covering. You confirm your email address before any alert is sent. Each alert email has a link to stop that type of alert, which you confirm on the page it opens.
• Quote request updates (section 7).
• One follow-up check-in, only if you ask for it on a result page, asking whether the problem was resolved. Our target is to detach your email address from that request shortly after you reply, or 14 days after we send the email if you do not reply (section 15).
• A newsletter, only if you separately ticked the box for it.

Our record of your email choices. When you subscribe or unsubscribe, we keep a record of what you chose, when and from where, together with the email address it applies to. We keep this record, including after an account is deleted, so we can show what you agreed to and keep honoring an unsubscribe.

We send email through our email delivery service, Resend, which receives your email address and the content of each message. We keep a record of each email we send (the type, the time, whether it was delivered and the delivery service's reference).

Usage measurement for every visitor. Our tools record what happened in each step (for example, which step you reached and which kind of answer you were shown) so we can find and fix confusing or wrong answers. These records contain no name, email address, network (IP) address, browser identifier or text you typed. They record whether the screen was a phone or a desktop and, for a ZIP code lookup, only its first three digits. Nothing is stored on your device to make them. Our target is to delete the individual records after about 13 months (section 15). We keep summary counts made from them for longer, and these counts contain nothing that identifies anyone.

Link clicks. We count clicks on retailer and partner links (which kind of link and which retailer) without an identifier for you.

Network (IP) addresses. Our servers see your network address with each request, as every website does. We use it to limit how often a form or feature can be used, so the site cannot be flooded. For most features, this is held in memory only and not written down. For sign-in and account actions, we store a one-way code made from it, not the address itself. Our target is to delete each code once its limit ends (section 15).

Error records. When something goes wrong, we record the error and the page address, with share codes and search values removed. We review these records to fix problems.

Our providers' technical records. Our hosting and network providers keep their own technical records of requests (for example, the time, the page address and the network address) under their own terms.

Uptime monitoring. An external service checks from time to time that the site is up. It does not receive any information about visitors.

We use a small number of cookies and other browser storage, and we ask before anything optional runs.

Your saved work in your browser. The tools keep your own answers, lists and results in your browser's storage (for example, your shortlist, plans, comparisons, tracked filters, cost settings, pressure checks, notes and the ZIP code you set on the homepage). The email address you signed in with is also kept there until you sign out. These items stay on your device until you act, and some are sent to us only when you choose to save them to your account. Two short-lived items hold a save you started while you confirm your email (for up to 24 hours and 6 hours). The full list, with what each item holds and how long it lasts, is in Cookie settings at the bottom of every page.

Optional analytics (only if you choose Accept):

• a random code, created in your browser tab after you accept, that links the steps of one visit together. It is deleted when you close the tab or decline;
• the words you type in the homepage question box when we could not match them to a tool, so we can improve the tools;
• the Decode options that Decode could not explain for you (not words you type);
• Google Analytics 4, an analytics tag from Google that loads only after you accept, with advertising features and Google signals turned off. Google receives your network address and information about the pages you visit, and sets its own cookies on our domain.

Your choice. Until you choose, nothing optional runs. We remember your choice for about 6 months and then ask again. You can change it at any time from Cookie settings. Declining removes the visit code and the Google Analytics cookies on our own domain.

Security check. When the quote request form is offered, it loads a security check from Cloudflare, which may set its own cookies or storage to tell people apart from automated programs.

Global Privacy Control. We do not run advertising or sell personal information, so a Global Privacy Control signal has nothing more to turn off.

Other sites. When you follow a link to a retailer or partner, that site's own cookies and privacy policy apply.

Share links. When you are signed in, you can create a link to some saved reports and send it to someone. Anyone who has the link can open what it shows without signing in, so share it only with people you trust. Links do not expire: a link keeps working until you stop it.

What a link shows. A link shows a fixed copy of the report as it was when you saved it, limited to what that kind of report shares. Before you create a link, the page shows you what it will include. In summary:

A link never shows your email address, your name, the name of your home or a document you uploaded.

Stopping a link. Choose Stop sharing on a saved report in My Water. Every link to that report stops working at once, and a stopped link cannot be turned back on (you can create a new one). Deleting the saved report, its home or your account also stops its links.

Temporary pause. We may pause all share links on the site for a period, for example to deal with a security concern or a problem with the feature. During a pause, no new links can be created and existing links do not open. Your saved reports stay available to you. When the pause ends, links you have not stopped work again. If you want a link to stay closed, stop it yourself.

What we cannot take back. Stopping or pausing a link prevents it from opening again. It cannot remove a copy that someone has already opened, saved, printed or screenshotted, or a page their browser has kept from an earlier visit.

• See and download your information. In My Water, you can see what you have saved and download a copy of your account information as a file, including documents you kept.
• Correct it. You can edit or remove what you saved in My Water.
• Delete things. You can delete a saved report, a kept document, a home or your whole account in My Water. Deleting your account removes it from our systems as section 14 describes, and also clears the tools' items from the browser you use to delete it. To clear those items from a browser without deleting an account, clear this site's data in your browser's settings.
• Stop emails. Use the link in any alert email, or turn alerts off in My Water.
• Cookies. Change your choice at any time from Cookie settings.
• Ask us. Write to hello@waterdecoder.com. We may need to confirm that a request comes from the owner of the account. We will not treat you differently for using these choices.

Depending on the state you live in (for example California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Utah or Virginia), you may have these rights over your personal information:

• Know and access. Ask what personal information we hold about you, where it came from, why we use it and who we share it with, and get a copy of it.
• Correct. Ask us to correct personal information that is wrong.
• Delete. Ask us to delete personal information we hold about you, subject to the exceptions the law allows (section 14 lists what we keep after an account is deleted).
• Opt out. Opt out of the sale of your personal information, its sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising, targeted advertising and certain automated profiling. We do none of these, so there is nothing to opt out of, but you may still ask us to confirm it.
• Limit use of sensitive information. We do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you. Please do not send us health information (section 5).
• Equal treatment. We will not treat you differently, charge you more or give you a lower level of service for using these rights.

What we collect, in the categories these laws use. In the past 12 months, we have collected identifiers (such as your email address, and your name and phone number if you give them), the content of messages, uploads and reviews you send us, approximate location (ZIP codes), internet activity (anonymous usage records and, if you accept, optional analytics) and limited device information (browser type and screen size). Sections 1 to 9 explain where each comes from and why we use it. We disclose personal information only to the service providers named in this policy and, if you ask us to, to one dealer (section 7). We do not sell it.

How to make a request. Use the tools in My Water (section 12), or write to hello@waterdecoder.com. We will confirm that the request comes from you, normally by asking you to confirm from the email address on your account, and we will respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we will tell you why. An authorized agent can make a request for you if you give them signed permission, and we may ask you to confirm your identity with us directly.

Appeals. If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision or by writing to hello@waterdecoder.com with "Appeal" in the subject line. We will respond within the time your state's law requires. If you disagree with the outcome, you can contact your state's attorney general.

When you delete your account, we delete your homes, saved reports and their share links, your water record, kept documents, plans, lists, alert settings and sign-ins. Large accounts can take more than one step. We aim to complete deletion in our active systems within 30 days.

We keep a small amount of information after deletion where we need it:

• a record that the deletion was requested and when it was completed;
• the record of your email subscription choices, so we can show what you agreed to and keep honoring an unsubscribe (section 8);
• security records about your account (section 15);
• the record of steps you agreed to for uploaded documents (section 5);
• records of emails we sent, with the link to your account removed.

Anonymous usage records and summary counts are not linked to your account and are not affected.

Backups. Our database provider keeps backups for recovery. Deleted information can remain in backups until they are replaced.

Where a period below says Target, it is the period our automatic clean-up is built to apply, but that clean-up is not running yet. Until it is, we keep that information for longer than the target.

We store as little personal information as we can, and we protect what we hold: connections to the site are encrypted, sign-in links and share links are long random codes that we store only in a protected form, and access to our systems is limited. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot promise that information will never be accessed without permission.

WaterDecoder is a general-audience site and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to us and we will take appropriate steps, including deleting it.

When we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will say so clearly on the site before it takes effect.

Steady Traction Labs, owner and operator of WaterDecoder
Email: hello@waterdecoder.com