Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect and Store

WaterLakeLevel is committed to minimizing user data collection. We do not require account registration, usernames, or passwords to access our lake dashboards, calculators, or reports.

A. Browser LocalStorage (No Cookies for Preferences)

To enhance your browsing experience, our site uses client-side HTML5 localStorage directly on your device:

• Visual Theme Preference (wll_theme): Remembers whether you selected Light Mode, Dark Mode, or System default.
• My Lakes Watchlist (wll_watchlist): Stores the slugs of up to 20 lakes and your optional personal low and high elevation threshold numbers so you can monitor them upon return.

This data resides strictly inside your browser sandbox and is never transmitted to or stored on our servers. You can clear this data at any time via your browser settings or using the "Clear All" button on the My Lakes Watchlist page.

B. Server Log Files

Like almost all standard web hosts, our server creates standard access logs containing your IP address, browser user-agent, operating system, referring URL, and timestamp. These logs are maintained solely for cybersecurity defense, DDoS mitigation, and API rate limiting.

C. Contact & Correction Submissions

When you submit an error report or contact message, we store the name, email, and message content you supply to investigate the report and respond. We do not sell or share contact email addresses with marketers.

2. Google AdSense & Third-Party Advertising

WaterLakeLevel displays third-party advertisements served by Google AdSense and its partners.

• Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on WaterLakeLevel.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our sites and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.

Consent Management for EEA, UK, and Switzerland: For visitors located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, advertising is served in accordance with the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) via a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP).

3. Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

WaterLakeLevel is a general audience educational and recreational site. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please notify our contact desk for immediate removal.

4. Your Privacy Rights (GDPR & US State Laws)

Depending on your location (including California under CCPA/CPRA, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and the EU/UK), you have specific statutory privacy rights, including:

• The right to know what personal data is maintained about you.
• The right to request the deletion or correction of your information.
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy choices.

To exercise any privacy rights, contact our Data Privacy Officer at support@waterlakelevel.com.