# Privacy Policy > How WaterGradePro handles your information: what we collect, cookies, ads, affiliate links, your privacy rights and how to contact us. Source: https://watergradepro.com/privacy-policy/ Updated: 2026-11-13 --- **Effective date:** November 13, 2026 This Privacy Policy explains how WaterGradePro (“we,” “us” or “our”) collects, uses and shares information when you visit watergradepro.com (the “Site”). We keep what we collect to a minimum: the Site has no user accounts and no comments, and its contact form emails your message to our inbox, keeping a copy in the Site’s email log for only 14 days. ## Who we are WaterGradePro is an independent website about home water treatment in the United States: water softeners, whole-house and under-sink filters, reverse osmosis, refrigerator filters, tap water quality and well water. The Site is run by its owner, and its articles are written by John. For any privacy question, email [contact@watergradepro.com](mailto:contact@watergradepro.com). ## Information we collect ### Information you send us If you email us or use the form on our [Contact](https://watergradepro.com/contact/) page, we receive your email address, your name and whatever you write. We use it only to read and answer your message. The form emails your message to our inbox; it doesn’t keep a database of messages, but a copy stays in the Site’s email log for 14 days and is then deleted automatically. To stop abuse of the form, we keep a coded (hashed) version of your IP address, never the address itself, and delete it automatically within about a day. ### Newsletter If you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address and keep a record of your consent: the date and the IP address of your request and of your confirmation. We email you a link first, and you are added to the list only after you confirm. When you confirm, we send you a welcome email. Requests that aren’t confirmed are deleted 7 to 8 days after the last confirmation link we sent. ### Information collected automatically Like any website, the Site receives technical information every time a page loads: your IP address, browser and device type, operating system, the page you asked for, the page that sent you, and the date and time. Our web server, Cloudflare (which delivers and protects the Site) and our security plugin record this information. We use it to keep the Site running and secure, not to build profiles of visitors. ### Analytics We use Google Analytics 4 to see which pages are read and how visitors find the Site, but only if you accept it in the cookie notice shown on your first visit. If you decline, or until you choose, no Google Analytics script is loaded. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect information such as pages viewed, time on page, approximate location (city or region), device type and how you arrived. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings button at the bottom of every page. We also count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. Cloudflare adds a small script to each page that sets no cookies and stores nothing in your browser. It reports totals such as pages viewed, the page you came from, browser and device type, country and how fast pages load; we don’t see individual visitors. ### What we don’t collect We don’t ask for sensitive information such as health records, financial account numbers or government ID numbers. If you send us a water test report, please remove any details you don’t want to share; we will use it only to answer your question. ## How we use information - To read and reply to your messages, and to fix errors you report. - To send the newsletter you asked for, starting with a welcome email when you confirm, until you unsubscribe. Every newsletter email includes an unsubscribe link. - To operate, maintain and secure the Site, including detecting and blocking abusive traffic. - To understand, in aggregate, which content is useful so we can improve it. - To show ads and earn affiliate commissions that pay for the Site, as described below. - To comply with the law and enforce our [Terms of Service](https://watergradepro.com/terms-of-service/). We do not sell your personal information for money. ## Cookies Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser. The Site sets one cookie of its own, to remember your answer to our cookie notice, and Google Analytics sets its cookies only if you accept them. Cloudflare may set a short-lived security cookie when it needs to check that a visitor is not a bot. If we enable ads, they will use cookies as described in this policy. Our [Cookie Policy](https://watergradepro.com/cookie-policy/) lists the cookies and explains how to control them. ## Service providers and third parties We share information only with the services that run the Site, and only what they need: - **Cloudflare, Inc.** delivers the Site through its network, protects it from attacks, counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics and forwards email sent to our address to our inbox. It processes IP addresses and request details to do this. See the [Cloudflare Privacy Policy](https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/). - **Wordfence**, a security plugin made by Defiant, Inc., inspects requests to block attacks. It records details such as IP address, browser and requested page for suspicious requests and may share attack data with Defiant to improve threat detection. - **Our hosting provider** runs the server in the United States where the Site and its logs are stored. - **Our email provider** stores the messages you send us. - **Brevo** (Sendinblue SAS) sends the emails the Site sends, such as newsletter confirmations, messages from the contact form and notices, and stores the list of newsletter subscribers. See the [Brevo Privacy Policy](https://www.brevo.com/legal/privacypolicy/). - **Google**, for Google Analytics if you accept it, for Google AdSense if we enable it, and through YouTube when an article embeds a video. When a YouTube player loads or plays, YouTube may set cookies and receives your IP address. Google explains [how it uses information from sites that use its services](https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites). - **Amazon and other retailers or manufacturers** whose affiliate programs we join, as described under Affiliate links. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the Site and its users, or as part of a sale or transfer of the Site, in which case this policy would keep applying to the information transferred. ## Advertising We may show ads served by Google AdSense to fund the Site. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visits to this Site and/or other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting [Google Ads Settings](https://adssettings.google.com/). You can also opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising at [www.aboutads.info](https://www.aboutads.info/). If other ad networks or vendors serve ads on the Site, we will list them here with links to their opt-out pages. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland will be asked for consent through a Google-certified consent tool before personalized ads are shown. ## Affiliate links Some links on the Site, including links to Amazon, are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. When you click an affiliate link, the retailer may set its own cookies on its own website to credit the sale; those cookies are covered by the retailer’s privacy policy, such as [Amazon’s Privacy Notice](https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GX7NJQ4ZB8MHFRNJ). Retailers don’t give us your name, address or payment details; we only see sales reports. Read more in our [Affiliate Disclosure](https://watergradepro.com/affiliate-disclosure/). ## How long we keep information - **Emails and contact form messages:** as long as we need to answer you and keep a record of the conversation, then deleted. Copies of form messages also stay in the Site’s email log for 14 days. - **Newsletter:** your address stays on our mailing list until you unsubscribe. The unsubscribe link in our welcome email takes it off our list; the one in newsletters sent through Brevo also puts it on Brevo’s do-not-email list so you aren’t emailed again. Either way, you can sign up and confirm once more. We keep the record of your consent (your address and the dates and IP addresses of your request and confirmation) to show that you agreed, until you ask us to delete it. Unconfirmed requests are deleted 7 to 8 days after the last confirmation link we sent, and copies of the emails we send stay in the Site’s email log for 14 days. - **Server and security logs:** for a limited period for security and troubleshooting, then deleted or overwritten. - **Backups:** copies of the Site, including its database, are kept for a limited time so we can restore it after a failure, then overwritten. - **Analytics data:** for no more than 14 months, the retention setting we use in Google Analytics. ## Your privacy rights Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, get a copy, correct it, delete it, or opt out of its sale, its sharing for targeted advertising, or profiling. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia and other states give their residents some or all of these rights. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, you also have the rights to restrict or object to processing and to data portability, and you can complain to your local data protection authority. To make a request, email [contact@watergradepro.com](mailto:contact@watergradepro.com) with the subject “Privacy request.” We will confirm the request with the information we already have, usually your email address, and respond within the time the law requires. You can use an authorized agent where the law allows, and we will not treat you differently for exercising your rights. ## Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control Some browsers send a Do Not Track signal. Because there is no common standard for responding to it, the Site does not respond to Do Not Track signals. If your browser sends a [Global Privacy Control](https://globalprivacycontrol.org/) signal, we will treat it as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for targeted advertising, as applicable law requires. ## Children’s privacy The Site is meant for adults 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 sent us personal information, email us and we will delete it. ## Security The Site is served only over encrypted HTTPS connections, sits behind Cloudflare’s network and runs a firewall and malware scanner. Access to the server and to our mailbox is limited and protected. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect the little information we hold. ## International visitors The Site is written for readers in the United States, and its server is in the United States. If you visit from another country, your information will be processed in the United States and in other countries where our service providers operate, which may have different data protection laws. Where the GDPR or a similar law applies, we rely on your consent for the newsletter and for analytics and advertising cookies (you can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing or changing your cookie settings), on our legitimate interests to secure and run the Site, to answer you and to keep proof of the consent you gave for the newsletter, and on legal obligations where they apply. ## Changes to this policy We will update this policy when our practices change, for example before we add ads. The new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. If a change is significant, we will make it clear on the Site. ## Contact us Questions or requests about this policy: [contact@watergradepro.com](mailto:contact@watergradepro.com).