PART A: TERMS OF USE AND DISCLAIMER
1. About the Portal and these Terms
1.1 The Non-Revenue Water Management Portal at managenrw.co.za (the “Portal”) is implemented and administered by the Water Research Commission (“WRC”, “we”, “us” or “our”). The Portal supports access to and sharing of knowledge resources relevant to non-revenue water management.
1.2 These Terms apply to visitors, registered users, and contributors. The Privacy Notice in Part B and Cookie Policy in Part C form part of these Terms.
1.3 If a particular resource, dataset, publication, or software item carries a separate licence or notice, that specific licence or notice governs use of that item to the extent of any inconsistency with these Terms.
2. Acceptance and electronic contracting
2.1 By using the Portal, creating an account, or uploading content, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not create an account or upload content and discontinue use of restricted Portal functions.
2.2 Where you use the Portal for an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to accept these Terms and provide information on that organisation’s behalf.
2.3 Electronic acceptance, records and communications are valid to the extent recognised by applicable South African law. WRC may keep evidence of your acceptance and the version accepted.
3.1 Depending on access permissions, the Portal may allow users to search, view, and download resources; create and maintain profiles; appear in an industry directory; and contribute resources for access by other users.
3.2 Portal access is presently offered without a subscription charge. WRC may add, change, suspend or discontinue functions after reasonable notice where practicable. No paid service will be introduced for an existing user without clear terms and affirmative agreement.
4. Registration and account security
4.1 You must provide information that is accurate, current, and not misleading, and keep it updated. WRC may verify registration information and approve, reject, suspend, or close accounts on reasonable grounds.
4.2 You are responsible for protecting your password and account credentials, restricting access to your account, and promptly notifying WRC if you suspect unauthorised use. You may not share an account in a manner that defeats access controls or audit trails.
4.3 Do not submit identity numbers, financial account details, special personal information, children’s personal information or confidential information unless a Portal field expressly requests it and an appropriate notice and lawful basis have been provided.
5. Directory listings and contact details
5.1 Organisational and contact person information is published in the Portal directory only where the relevant publication permission has been obtained or another lawful justification applies and has been disclosed.
5.2 If you provide another person’s details, you confirm that you are authorised to do so, that the information is accurate, and that the person has received the Privacy Notice and agreed to publication where consent is required.
5.3 A listed person or organisation may request correction or removal through the Portal controls or by contacting WRC. Removal may take a reasonable period to propagate through backups, caches and search indexes.
6. Permitted use of Portal content
6.1 You may use the Portal for lawful research, education, planning, professional and operational purposes relevant to non-revenue water management, subject to these Terms and any resource specific licence.
6.2 You may download and share a resource only as permitted by its copyright notice, open licence, or other applicable permission. You must retain attribution, copyright and licence notices and may not imply endorsement by WRC or a contributor.
6.3 The Portal’s layout, branding, databases, software, and original interface content remain protected by applicable intellectual property laws. Except for ordinary use of Portal functions, no licence is granted to copy, adapt, scrape, reverse engineer, commercialise or create a competing repository from those elements.
7. Content contributed by users
7.1 You retain ownership of content you upload, subject to the rights of any co-owner, employer, funder, publisher, or other rights holder.
7.2 By uploading content, you grant WRC a non-exclusive, royalty free licence to host, store, reproduce, format, index, display, communicate and make the content available through the Portal and related WRC knowledge management activities. The licence includes the right to use operators for these purposes and to create technical copies, thumbnails, metadata, and accessible formats. It lasts while the content is hosted and thereafter only for lawful recordkeeping, backups, dispute management, and preservation obligations.
7.3 You warrant that you have the rights and authority required for the upload and licence; the content and its metadata are accurate to the best of your knowledge; all necessary acknowledgements are included; and publication will not unlawfully infringe intellectual property, privacy, confidentiality, contractual or other rights.
7.4 If uploaded content contains personal information, you confirm that its inclusion and publication comply with POPIA, that affected persons received any required notice, and that you can provide evidence of the applicable justification if reasonably requested.
7.5 Do not upload raw personal datasets, confidential research, security sensitive infrastructure information, restricted tender information, classified material, malicious code, or content that a contract, ethics approval, law, or court order prohibits from publication.
You may not:
- use the Portal unlawfully, fraudulently or to harm, harass, defame, or discriminate against another person;
- upload content that is unlawful, deceptive, infringing, defamatory, confidential without authority, obscene, hateful, or malicious;
- circumvent authentication, access controls, rate limits or security measures, or probe the Portal without written authorisation;
- introduce malware or interfere with the Portal’s operation, availability, integrity, or other users;
- harvest personal information, send unsolicited marketing, build unauthorised profiles, or use directory information for purposes inconsistent with its publication context;
- use automated extraction at a scale that unreasonably burdens the Portal or reproduces a substantial part of its database, unless WRC has authorised it; or
- misrepresent your identity, authority, affiliation, qualifications, products, services, or the source of content.
9. Review, moderation, and takedown
9.1 WRC may, but is not obliged to, review or moderate user content. WRC may reject, restrict, correct metadata for, suspend or remove content where it reasonably believes these Terms, a law, a third party right, security requirements or the Portal’s purpose may be compromised.
9.2 A person alleging infringement, unlawful processing or other harm should send WRC enough detail to identify the material, the right or concern relied on, supporting evidence and contact details. WRC may preserve evidence, consult affected parties and restore or permanently remove the content after assessment.
9.3 WRC may refer suspected unlawful conduct to a competent authority where required or permitted by law. WRC will not disclose account information merely because a private person demands it; disclosure remains subject to law and lawful process.
10. Third party resources and links
10.1 The Portal aggregates resources from WRC, contributors, and other organisations. Third party content remains the responsibility of its source and may be changed or withdrawn without notice.
10.2 Links to external websites are provided for convenience and do not amount to endorsement, control, or a warranty by WRC. External sites have their own terms, privacy practices, and security risks.
11. Disclaimer: information and professional reliance
11.1 WRC takes reasonable steps to support a useful knowledge repository, but the Portal contains historical, third party and user contributed material. WRC does not warrant that every item is complete, current, accurate, suitable for a particular site or compliant with the latest technical, regulatory or procurement requirements.
11.2 Portal content is general information and does not constitute engineering, legal, financial, procurement, health and safety or other professional advice. Users must apply professional judgment, verify material against authoritative sources, and obtain appropriate advice before making decisions or implementing measures.
11.3 Water system performance and non-revenue water interventions depend on local data, infrastructure, operating conditions, and governance. WRC does not guarantee any outcome from reliance on a resource, directory listing, contributor, or service provider.
11.4 To the extent permitted by law, the Portal and its content are provided on an ‘as available’ basis without implied warranties. Nothing in these Terms excludes a warranty, right or remedy that applicable law does not permit to be excluded.
12.1 WRC does not guarantee uninterrupted or error free availability. Maintenance, upgrades, network failures, cyber incidents, and events beyond reasonable control may affect access or cause delay or loss.
12.2 WRC applies reasonable safeguards, but no internet service is completely secure. You should keep independent copies of important content and use current security controls on your device.
13.1 To the extent permitted by law, WRC and persons involved in operating the Portal are not liable for indirect, consequential, or special loss arising from Portal use, inability to use the Portal, third party content or external links.
13.2 WRC’s liability for direct loss is limited to loss proved to have been caused by WRC’s breach of a legal duty in relation to the Portal. WRC is not liable to the extent that loss results from inaccurate user information, unauthorised account use, breach of these Terms, failure to verify content or circumstances outside WRC’s reasonable control.
13.3 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for fraud, wilful misconduct, gross negligence, unlawful processing of personal information, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
14. Contributor responsibility
If you upload content in a business, professional or organisational capacity, then, to the extent permitted by law, you are responsible for substantiated third party claims and reasonable costs directly caused by your material breach of the warranties in clause 7. This does not apply to loss caused by WRC’s own unlawful conduct, negligence or unauthorised alteration or use of the content.
15. Suspension and termination
15.1 You may request account closure, subject to lawful retention and the continued availability of content that WRC or another person is entitled or required to retain.
15.2 WRC may suspend or terminate access, with notice, where reasonably practicable, for material or repeated breach, security risk, unlawful conduct, prolonged inactivity, operational closure or a legal requirement. Urgent suspension may occur without prior notice where necessary to protect the Portal, users, data or third parties.
15.3 Provisions concerning intellectual property, uploaded content rights, disclaimers, liability, privacy, records, disputes, and accrued rights survive termination to the extent required to give them effect.
16. Changes, notices, and contact
16.1 WRC may update these Terms. The current version and effective date will be posted on the Portal. Material changes affecting registered users will be communicated by a reasonable method and, where required, presented for renewed acceptance.
16.2 Notices to you may be sent to the account email address or displayed in the Portal. You must keep your contact details current.
16.3 Questions, complaints and content takedown requests may be sent to nrw@managenrw.co.za or delivered to the Water Research Commission, 1609 Michael Thackeray Street, The Innovation Hub, Persequor, Tshwane, 0020, South Africa.
17. Governing law and disputes
17.1 South African law governs these Terms. The parties should first attempt in good faith to resolve a dispute through written engagement with WRC.
17.2 If a dispute is not resolved, it may be brought before a South African court with jurisdiction. Nothing prevents urgent relief or the use of a statutory complaint, regulatory or administrative review process.
PART B: PRIVACY NOTICE
1. Responsible party and scope
1.1 The Water Research Commission is the responsible party for personal information processed for the Portal where it determines why and how that information is processed. A service provider that processes information only on WRC’s instructions acts as an operator. A separately identified partner may be an independent responsible party for its own processing and must provide its own notice.
1.2 This Notice applies to Portal visitors, applicants, registered users, contributors, directory contacts, people who communicate with Portal support and individuals whose personal information is lawfully included in uploaded material.
2. Personal information we process
Depending on how you use the Portal, WRC may process:
- registration and account information: reason for registration, requested services, name, surname, job title, telephone number, email address, username, password credential in protected form, account status and acceptance records;
- organisation information: organisation name, sector, headquarters address, country, province/state, city/town and related profile information;
- directory information: title, name, surname, work telephone number, work email address, enquiry types and associated organisation, where publication has been authorised;
- contribution information: uploaded files, titles, descriptions, keywords, authorship, ownership and licence information, review history, and communications about the content;
- technical and usage information: IP address, device and browser information, login and security logs, pages and resources accessed, downloads, session information, cookie choices and analytics information;
- communications and support information: enquiries, complaints, correction or takedown requests, feedback and records needed to resolve them; and
- information from third party content: limited personal information appearing in a lawfully contributed resource, such as an author’s name, professional affiliation, and publication details.
WRC does not intend the ordinary Portal registration process to collect identity numbers, private financial details, biometric information, health information, criminal information, or children’s personal information.
3. How information is obtained
WRC obtains information directly from you when you register, update a profile, upload content, change cookie settings or communicate with WRC; automatically from your browser and Portal use; from a person authorised to submit organisational or directory details; and from publications or resources lawfully supplied for inclusion.
4. Purposes and POPIA justifications
WRC processes personal information only where a justification recognised by POPIA applies. The principal purposes and justifications are:
| Purpose | Typical information | Applicable justification |
| Assess registrations; create and administer accounts; authenticate users | Registration details, credentials, organisation, and security records | Steps requested by the user; performance of the Portal arrangement; legitimate interests in secure administration |
| Provide search, download, upload, and support functions | Account, usage, contribution, and communications data | Performance of the Portal arrangement; WRC’s public functions and legitimate interests |
| Publish an optional directory listing | Approved organisation and contact person details | Consent where used; or another disclosed lawful justification |
| Publish and manage contributed resources | Content, metadata, authorship, licenses, and moderation records | Performance; consent where required; WRC’s public mandate and legitimate interests |
| Secure, troubleshoot, audit, and improve the Portal | Technical, log, diagnostic, analytics, and feedback data | Legitimate interests; legal duties; consent for non-essential cookies where required |
| Comply with law, records duties, and legal process; establish or defend rights | Relevant account, content, audit, and communications records | Legal obligation; public law duty; legitimate interests |
| Communicate service notices and requested updates | Name, account and contact details; preferences | Performance; legitimate interests; consent where communication is optional |
5. Whether information is compulsory
Fields marked as required are needed to assess registration, create an account, or provide the selected function. If you do not provide required information, WRC may be unable to register you or provide that function. Optional fields and optional directory publication may be declined without preventing ordinary search access unless the information is genuinely necessary for the selected service.
6.1 Information clearly identified as directory information or publication metadata may be visible to Portal users or the public, depending on Portal settings. Public information can be copied, indexed by search engines, and accessed outside South Africa. WRC cannot fully control onward use after lawful publication.
6.2 WRC will not publish a person’s directory contact details merely because another user supplied them. Publication requires a recorded permission or another lawful, disclosed basis and a reasonable opportunity to correct or remove the listing.
6.3 Contributors should minimise personal information in uploaded resources and remove unnecessary contact details, signatures, identity numbers, and hidden document metadata before uploading.
WRC may share personal information only as reasonably necessary with:
- authorised WRC employees and contractors responsible for Portal administration, legal compliance, information management, support, security, and audit;
- contracted operators providing hosting, development, maintenance, email, backups, cybersecurity, analytics or related technical services under appropriate confidentiality and security obligations;
- Portal users and the public where information is intentionally published as a directory listing, resource, or publication metadata;
- a rights holder, contributor, or complainant where limited disclosure is necessary to investigate a complaint and is lawful; and
- regulators, law enforcement bodies, courts, auditors, or other persons where disclosure is required or authorised by law, lawful process, or the protection of legitimate rights.
WRC does not sell Portal users’ personal information.
8. Cross border processing
Some operators or technical services may store or access information outside South Africa. WRC will permit a cross-border transfer only where section 72 of POPIA or another applicable legal requirement is satisfied, for example, through adequate protection, a binding agreement, consent where appropriate, or another lawful ground. Publicly published Portal information may be accessed globally.
9.1 WRC retains personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose collected, the Portal relationship, security, backups, dispute management, audit, WRC records obligations, and applicable law. Retention periods vary by record category.
9.2 Account information is ordinarily retained while the account is active and for a limited period afterwards. Rejected or incomplete applications, security logs, support records, acceptance records, removed content, and backup copies may follow different approved periods.
9.3 At the end of the applicable period, WRC will delete, destroy, de identify or restrict information in accordance with POPIA and approved records schedules. A deletion request does not override a lawful duty or right to retain a record.
WRC uses reasonable and appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised destruction, access, or processing. Measures may include access controls, credential protection, encryption where appropriate, backups, logging, vulnerability management, incident response, and operator obligations. No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.
11. Your responsibilities
Keep your account and directory information accurate; protect credentials; do not upload unnecessary personal information; obtain authority before providing another person’s details; and notify WRC promptly of unauthorised access, incorrect publication, or a privacy concern.
Subject to POPIA, PAIA and applicable limitations, you may:
- ask whether WRC holds personal information about you and request access to it;
- request correction, updating, deletion or destruction of inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, outdated, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained information;
- object on reasonable grounds to processing based on a justification that permits objection;
- withdraw consent for future processing where consent is the basis, without affecting processing already lawfully undertaken;
- request removal or correction of an optional directory listing; and
- lodge a complaint with WRC’s Information Officer or the Information Regulator.
- WRC may require proof of identity or authority before acting on a request. Access to records is managed in accordance with POPIA, PAIA and WRC’s PAIA Manual.
13. Children
The Portal is intended for professional and sector stakeholders and is not directed at children. Do not create an account for a child or upload a child’s personal information unless WRC has expressly authorised the processing after confirming the legal requirements. If WRC learns that children’s information was submitted without authority, it may restrict or delete it and take any required compliance steps.
Where WRC has reasonable grounds to believe that personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, WRC will investigate and notify the Information Regulator and affected data subjects as soon as reasonably possible where POPIA requires, subject to any lawful delay or direction.
15. Contact and complaints
15.1 Privacy requests and concerns may be sent to the WRC Information Officer at nrw@managenrw.co.za or delivered to the Water Research Commission, 1609 Michael Thackeray Street, The Innovation Hub, Persequor, Tshwane, 0020, South Africa. Telephone: +27 12 761 9300.
15.2 WRC’s PAIA and POPIA materials are available at www.wrc.org.za. A complaint may also be lodged with the Information Regulator using the current channels published at inforegulator.org.za.
16. Changes to this Notice
WRC may update this Notice when Portal functions, operators, legal requirements, or processing practices change. The current version and last updated date will be posted on the Portal, and material changes will be communicated to registered users by a reasonable method.
PART C: COOKIE POLICY
1. What cookies are
Cookies are small text files stored on a device when a website is used. Similar technologies include local storage, pixels and software development tools that remember settings, support security or measure use. In this Policy, ‘cookies’ includes those similar technologies where the context allows.
| Category | Purpose | Default | Typical examples |
| Strictly necessary | Operate core functions such as authentication, security, session management, load balancing and recording cookie choices. | Active because required for the service. | Login session; security token; consent preference. |
| Preferences | Remember optional settings that improve convenience, such as interface or display preferences. | Off until consent where not strictly necessary. | Saved language or display preference. |
| Analytics | Measure visits, page use and performance so WRC can understand and improve the Portal. | Off until consent unless configured in a genuinely privacy preserving manner that does not require consent. | Visitor and page statistics; performance metrics. |
| Functionality / third party media | Enable optional embedded maps, videos, documents or social features supplied by another service. | Off until consent. | Embedded content or sharing tool. |
The Portal should not activate advertising or behavioural marketing cookies unless this Policy and the cookie declaration are first updated, the processing is approved, and a valid opt in control is implemented.
3. Cookie choices
3.1 On the first visit, the Portal’s consent manager allows you to accept, reject or choose non-essential cookie categories. Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled through the Portal because the requested service would not operate correctly.
3.2 You can change or withdraw a cookie choice at any time using the ‘Change cookie settings’ link. Withdrawal affects future cookie use; it does not make earlier processing unlawful.
3.3 If you reject non-essential cookies, core Portal functions should remain available, although optional embedded or preference features may not work.
The cookie declaration available through ‘Change cookie settings’ forms part of this Policy and should identify each current cookie or similar technology, its provider, purpose, category and duration. Because technologies change, that declaration is the authoritative operational inventory and must be kept current through regular production scans.
5. Third-party cookies and transfers
A third-party feature may place or read cookies after you consent. That provider may process information under its own privacy notice and may do so outside South Africa. WRC will configure third party services consistently with Part B and applicable cross-border requirements, but you should also review the provider’s notice shown in the cookie declaration or linked feature.
6. Browser controls
Most browsers allow you to delete or block cookies. Blocking all cookies may prevent login, remembered choices and other core functions. Browser settings operate separately from the Portal’s consent manager.
WRC may update this Policy when cookie use changes. The last updated date will be shown at the start of this document. Questions about cookies or related personal information processing may be sent to nrw@managenrw.co.za.