Privacy policy

Effective date: [[SHIPDATE]]. Last updated: [[SHIPDATE]].
Operator: SWPPP HQ, operated by Craig Chambers ("we", "us"), Anderson, South Carolina
Contact: hello@swppphq.com

What changed on [[SHIPDATE]]: we now count a few actions on our own site (see 2a). We still don't use cookies or record who you are.

1. Who we are

SWPPP HQ is an independent website with plain-English guides to stormwater rules and a directory of stormwater inspectors and service providers. SWPPP HQ is operated by Craig Chambers, Anderson, SC. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking for SCDES, Clemson University, or any government agency, university, county, or city.

2. Information we collect

a. When you just browse.

We don't set cookies or use advertising trackers. On most pages we count page views with Cloudflare Web Analytics, a cookieless tool from Cloudflare, Inc. When it runs, a small script sends Cloudflare the page address, the referring page, your browser and device type, your country, and how fast the page loaded. Cloudflare says this tool doesn't use cookies or fingerprinting and doesn't collect or use visitors' personal data. We see only totals, not individual visitors. (Stripe's checkout page, which is Stripe's site, is covered by Stripe's privacy policy; see 2e.)
Action counts. We also count a few actions on our own site so we can see which tools help people: which county is chosen in the inspector finder or on the private projects page, taps on "Use my location", starts and sends of the listing request form, taps on "Get Listed", which answer the "Which permit?" tool shows, which FAQ questions are opened, template downloads, clicks on email links (we record only which kind of email, such as "removal"), clicks on links to official sources such as SCDES and EPA (we record only which group of websites, such as SCDES), and "page not found" errors. Each count is only the action, a fixed label from a short list we wrote (such as a county name), and the date. We store only the total for each action and label per day. We don't store your IP address, your location, details about your device, the page address, or anything you type (including addresses, ZIP codes, search words, and form answers), and we don't use cookies, IDs or fingerprinting. The counts aren't linked to you, and we don't try to link them. Like every request to our site, the request that sends a count passes through Cloudflare, which sees your IP address and browser information to deliver it (see the next paragraph). Our code doesn't read or keep them.
Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, Inc., automatically processes technical data to deliver and secure the site: IP address, browser type, pages requested, date and time, and referring page. We don't use this data to identify you.

b. When you email us (including "claim", "featured listing", "correction", "removal", or "report a problem" requests):

your email address and name
anything you include in the message, such as business name, phone, website, services, counties served, and certification or license numbers

c. When you use the listing request form: the fields on the form (business name, your name, email, phone (optional), listing type, services, counties served, website, certification details, featured description, and your message) and your answers to the confirmation boxes. The form sends them through a Cloudflare Pages Function to our email inbox. The site doesn't store them anywhere else.

d. If you pay for a featured listing: payments are handled by Stripe. We receive confirmation of your payment, your billing contact details, and limited payment method details (such as card brand and last four digits). We don't receive or store your full card number or bank account number.

If you buy a Featured (ad) listing, we email you a copy of your subscription terms and your authorization (plan, price, how often you're charged, how to cancel) at the email address you gave at checkout. We use that address only to send that copy and notices about your subscription, such as renewal reminders, payment problems and cancellation. We don't add it to any marketing list. We keep our copy for as long as your listing runs plus 3 years, then delete it.

e. Link. Stripe's checkout page may offer Link, Stripe's service for saving payment details. Using it is your choice. If you use it, Stripe, not SWPPP HQ, saves and manages your Link details under its own Link terms (https://link.com/terms) and privacy policy (https://link.com/privacy), and decides how it uses them. Stripe shares with us your name, contact details, payment method details and transaction details for your payment. Stripe may use cookies and similar technologies on its checkout page, including to recognize you for Link. Stripe's privacy policy: https://stripe.com/privacy.

Location (optional). If you tap "Use my location" on our SC projects pages or our permit lookup, your browser asks for permission first. Your device uses the location only to work out which South Carolina county you're in and, on our private projects page, to estimate how far you are from each listing. On that page, a listing's location is EPA's listed site location, rounded to about a mile (EPA's locations can be approximate), or the center of the town named on the listing when EPA doesn't give a usable location. It stays in that page's memory while the page is open and isn't saved on your device. Your device's location isn't sent to SWPPP HQ, isn't stored by us, and isn't shared. A street address you type is handled differently, as described under Address search below. The page then shows links for that county to other websites, such as SCDOT, EPA, SCDES and local government pages, which have their own privacy policies. You can pick a county instead. If you tap "Use my location", we count only that the button was tapped, not your location or the county found.

Address search (optional). On our SC projects pages, if you type a street address and tap Search, your browser sends it to our server, which passes it to the U.S. Census Bureau's free public geocoder to find the South Carolina county. Our server sends back only the county, except on our private projects page, where it also sends back a rough point for the address, rounded to within about half a mile, so the page can estimate how far you are from each listing. That point stays in that page's memory while the page is open and isn't saved on your device. We don't save or log the address or the point, and we don't share it with anyone except the Census Bureau for this lookup or use it for anything else. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, carries the request. The Census Bureau receives the address from our server, not from your device, and its own privacy policy covers its systems. If you type a ZIP code or a city or town name, or pick a county, the match happens on your device and nothing is sent. We count only which county was found, not the address.

3. How we use information

To answer your message and handle claim, correction, featured-listing, and removal requests. If you email us, we use your email address only to reply and to handle your request.
To publish business listing details, either the ones you ask us to publish or the basic facts a business publishes on its own website.
To check credentials you give us against public sources (Clemson's public certification lists).
To bill featured listings, and keep business, tax, and dispute records.
To keep records of listing requests, changes, and removals, and to handle disputes.
To keep the site secure and working.
To send the emails your listing needs: confirming a claim, edit, or removal; Featured receipts, renewal reminders, payment problems, and cancellation. These come from SWPPP HQ (sent through Resend) and aren't marketing.

We don't:

sell your personal information
rent or share it for others' marketing
use it for cold calls, texts, or emails
send you marketing emails, including offers to upgrade, unless you've asked us to. The emails we send are about your request, your listing, or your billing: confirmations, replies, receipts, and renewal reminders.

We follow South Carolina's Family Privacy Protection Act (S.C. Code § 30-2-50). We don't use personal information obtained from any state agency, local government, or other political subdivision (including Clemson's lists, SCDES records, and county or city records) to call, mail, or email anyone to sell or market anything. We contact businesses only when they've written to us or asked to be listed.

4. Inspector directory

Unclaimed listings show basic facts we copied from each business's own public website: business name, city, the areas and services it says it offers, and its website link. Claimed listings are added or confirmed by the business through our listing request form or by email.
What's public on a listing. Everything shown on a listing card or county page is public: business name, base town, counties served, services, website link, phone or email if the business gives them, any certification the business reports (with a link to Clemson's list), and the claim/update date. Featured listings may also show a logo, photos, a description, and call/email/website buttons. We don't publish the name or email of the person who manages the listing, or billing details.
We don't copy names, certification numbers, or contact details from Clemson's lists or any government source. We link to Clemson's official lists instead.

If you're listed and want your entry corrected or removed, email hello@swppphq.com with the subject "Removal" or "Correction". We'll remove a listing within 1 business day and make corrections within 10 business days.

Removing your entry from our site doesn't change Clemson's lists. Contact Clemson for those.

5. Sharing

We share personal information only:

with service providers who help run the site: hosting, form handling, page-view stats, and action counts (Cloudflare, Inc.), email delivery (Resend), and payment processing (Stripe, which also runs Link; see 2d and 2e), under their terms, and only as needed
when the law requires it, or to protect our rights or others' safety
with a successor if the business is sold or transferred, under this policy

Listing details are public.

Resend (Plus Five Five, Inc., in the United States) delivers these emails for us. It receives your email address and the message to deliver them, and keeps delivery logs for a limited time under its own policy.

6. Your choices and how to review or correct information

Email hello@swppphq.com to see, correct, or delete the information we hold about you, or to remove your listing.
We may keep limited records where the law requires (for example billing and tax records) or to honor your removal request.

7. Retention

Messages and listing records: as long as the listing is active, plus 3 years.
Billing records: as long as tax law requires.
Host logs: as long as our host keeps them under its own policy.
Page-view stats: as long as Cloudflare keeps them under its own policy.
Action counts: daily totals only, kept as long as they're useful to us. They contain no personal information.
Email delivery logs: as long as Resend keeps them under its own policy.
Featured subscription terms copy: as long as the listing runs, plus 3 years (see 2d).

8. Security

We use reasonable safeguards for the small amount of information we hold. No method is perfectly secure. If a breach of personal identifying information occurs, we'll notify affected people as required by law, including SC Code § 39-1-90.

9. Do Not Track

We don't track visitors across websites. Our own action counts (see 2a) work the same whether or not your browser sends a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal. Cloudflare Web Analytics page-view stats also work the same whether or not your browser sends these signals.

10. Changes to this policy

We'll post any change here and update the effective date at the top. For a significant change, we'll also put a notice on the home page and email listees who have claimed their listing or written to us.

11. Children

This site is for adults and businesses. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13.

12. Contact

SWPPP HQ (Craig Chambers), hello@swppphq.com