BottleChallenge - Find Free Water Refill Stations

1. Who these terms are for

These Municipality Terms apply when a public body uses the BottleChallenge municipal panel. That includes municipalities, cities, counties, regions, water utilities and other bodies responsible for public access to drinking water.

The panel exists to help you see how well your area is covered by places where people can refill a bottle, and to publish the points you operate. In the European Union this supports the duties in Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on the quality of water intended for human consumption, which asks Member States to improve access to water and to inform the public about it. Outside the European Union the panel works the same way, without reference to that Directive.

If your organisation also runs a venue offering refills, the Refill Partner Terms apply to that venue. If it offers rewards in the EcoDrops shop, the Reward Partner Terms apply to those.

2. Definitions

We, us, the Foundation: BrainGreen Foundation, operator of BottleChallenge.
Platform: the BottleChallenge website, mobile applications and related services.
You, the Authority: the public body whose representative accepted these terms.
Panel: the municipal area of the Platform available to a verified Authority.
Area: the territory assigned to your account.
Own point: a refill point you record in your own register within the panel.
Map point: any refill location shown publicly on the Platform, whoever added it.

3. Authority to accept

The person who accepts these terms confirms that they are authorised to do so on behalf of the Authority, and that using a free online tool of this kind is within the Authority's competence.

If your internal rules require a written agreement, a signature, a security assessment or a data protection impact assessment before you may use an external tool, complete that first. Write to [email protected] and we will provide the information you need and sign a separate agreement if you require one.

4. Verification and account

We verify each request before granting access, because the panel is tied to a defined territory. We may ask for evidence that you represent the Authority, such as an official email domain or a letter. Until verification is complete the account stays in a pending state with no access to area data.

Accounts are personal to the individual officer who holds them. Do not share credentials. Tell us promptly when a person leaves their role so that we can revoke or transfer access.

5. What the panel provides

The panel gives you, for your Area:

a view of the refill points shown publicly on the map, whoever added them;
coverage figures describing how those points are distributed;
counts of refills recorded at points in your Area, with a split between people whose recorded activity is mostly in your Area and people whose activity is mostly elsewhere;
a register in which you can record and publish the points your organisation operates;
a public profile page for your Area, and code to embed a map of it on your own website;
a channel through which residents can report a problem with a point.

We may add, change or withdraw features. If we withdraw something you rely on we will give you reasonable notice.

6. How to read the figures

The panel is an indicator, not an official measurement.

Do not present its output as an official statistic or as evidence of legal compliance without checking it against your own records.

You should know the following about the data.

Coverage depends on what has been added. The map is built largely from contributions by residents, venues and public bodies. A gap on the map may mean there is no refill point, or it may mean nobody has added one yet.
Refill counts come from tag taps. Only points fitted with a BottleChallenge NFC tag can record a refill. A point without a tag will always show zero refills even if it is heavily used.
The local and visitor split is inferred. It is derived from where a person most often records refills over the preceding months, not from any address they gave us. It is an estimate.
The same physical point can appear twice. A point recorded in your own register may also exist as a map point added by someone else. We are working to detect this, but at present you should check before relying on a total.
Figures change. Points are added, corrected and removed continuously.

We provide the figures in good faith and take care with them, but we do not warrant that they are complete or accurate, and you use them at your own discretion.

7. Your own points register

You may record the refill points your organisation operates, individually or by import. You are responsible for the accuracy of what you record, including location, description and availability, and for keeping it current.

You confirm that you are entitled to publish the information you upload and that doing so does not breach anyone's rights. Do not upload personal data into these records.

You grant us a non exclusive, worldwide, royalty free licence to display and distribute your own points data through the Platform for as long as you publish it. Where this information is public sector information that you already make available for re use, for example under Directive (EU) 2019/1024 or a national open data rule, that public licence continues to apply alongside this one.

You are responsible for the water quality and safety of the points you operate, and for compliance with the drinking water rules that apply to them.

8. Points added by residents

A resident who adds a refill point to the map is its contributor. Registering as an Authority does not transfer that entry to you, even if the underlying fountain belongs to your organisation.

You see such points because they are in your Area, and they count towards the coverage figures for it. They remain separate from your own points register.

If an entry about your infrastructure is wrong, misleading or should not be public, write to [email protected] and our moderators will review it. We will act on a well founded request without undue delay.

9. Data protection

9.1 Our roles

We are the controller of personal data about Platform users. You are the controller of the personal data you hold about your own residents and staff. We do not process personal data on your behalf through the panel, and you do not process personal data on ours, so an Article 28 processing agreement is not required for this relationship.

The exception is the contact details of the officers who hold panel accounts. We process those as controller in order to operate the account, as described in our Privacy Policy.

9.2 What the panel does not show you

The panel shows counts and distributions. It does not show, and you may not ask us for, the identity of the people who recorded refills, their contact details, their individual refill histories or their precise locations.

We derive the local and visitor split internally from user activity. That derivation is personal data in our systems, we hold it as controller, and we do not disclose it to you at the level of an individual.

9.3 What you must not do

Do not attempt to identify an individual from panel output, including by combining it with other data you hold.
Do not use panel output to make a decision about an identified person.
Do not request data disclosure through the panel. If you have a lawful power to demand data from us, address it to [email protected] so that we can check it and, where the law allows, tell the people affected.

9.4 Access to documents

We understand that material you hold may be disclosable under freedom of information or access to environmental information rules. Nothing here prevents you from complying with such a duty.

9.5 Where we may be joint controllers

Two things in this agreement can make us joint controllers with you under Article 26 of the GDPR, for a narrow part of the processing. They are set out below.

The embedded map. When you embed our map in your own website, your visitor's browser sends their IP address to us and to the tile provider in order to draw it. You decide to embed it and for what purpose; we decide how the component works. For that collection and transmission step we are joint controllers.
Resident reports. The panel routes a resident's message, sometimes with their contact details, from them to you. We determine the channel and format, you determine what you do with the report.

For both, we agree the following as the essence of our arrangement, which you may show to anyone who asks. We answer for the Platform side: how the component collects data, our security, and information to the person about our part. You answer for your side: the decision to embed, the notice on your own page, and what you do with a report after it reaches you. Either of us will pass on a request from an individual to the other without delay, and a person may exercise their rights against either of us. Our contact point is [email protected]. If you need this as a separate signed Article 26 arrangement, write to [email protected] and we will provide one.

10. Public profile and embedding

Your Area gets a public page on the Platform, and you can embed a map of it in your own website. You control the description and cover image you publish there, and you are responsible for that content.

If you embed our map on a public sector website, your own accessibility duties continue to apply to the page as a whole. Within the European Union that is Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies. We publish an accessibility statement describing the current state of our own interfaces, including known limitations of the map, so that you can assess the component and offer an accessible alternative where you need one. We will help where we can.

The embedded map does not set analytics or advertising cookies.

11. Reports from residents

Residents can report a problem with a point, for example that a fountain is broken. Those reports reach you through the panel.

A report is a message from a member of the public, not a formal submission to your authority, unless your own law says otherwise. We do not verify reports, we do not guarantee delivery, and the panel is not a substitute for your official contact channels. Make that clear to residents where it matters. If a report contains a person's contact details, handle them as controller under your own rules.

12. Community features

You may create a public group for your Area so that residents can take part together, and you may run time limited activities within it. If you do:

the group is public and anyone may join;
you are responsible for anything you write in it, and for any prize or recognition you offer;
if you offer a prize, you are responsible for the rules, for any permit or tax that applies to it, and for awarding it. We are not a party to it and we do not fund it;
EcoDrops are not money and must not be presented as a monetary prize, a payment or a public benefit.

13. No fees and no procurement

The panel is provided free of charge. There is no fee, no subscription, no commission and no payment in either direction, in cash or in kind. Should we ever propose a paid feature, that would be a separate matter requiring a separate decision by you.

We do not offer the panel in exchange for endorsement, promotion or preferential treatment, and we will not ask you for any.

Whether your own procurement, gift acceptance, state aid or IT approval rules apply to taking up a free tool is your determination to make, not ours, and we do not ask you to rely on any view of ours about it. Tell us what you need in order to make that assessment and we will provide it.

14. Liability

The panel is provided as it is. We do not warrant that it will be available without interruption, that the figures are complete or accurate, or that it fits any particular purpose of yours. Section 6 explains the known limits of the data.

We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, and in particular not for decisions you take on the basis of panel output without your own verification.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for damage caused intentionally, which under Article 473 section 2 of the Polish Civil Code cannot be excluded in advance, for damage caused by gross negligence, which we do not seek to exclude, for fraud, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Subject to that, our total liability to you in any twelve month period is limited to EUR 1,000. The panel is supplied free of charge.

You are responsible for the accuracy of what you publish and for the water safety of the points you operate. Where the law permits a public body to give such an undertaking, you will cover our reasonable losses if a claim is brought against us because information you published was wrong. Where your law does not permit that, this sentence does not apply and each party bears liability under the general law.

15. Suspension and termination

You may stop using the panel at any time by writing to [email protected]. We will close the account and unpublish your public page. Points you published remain on the map unless you ask us to remove them, so that residents do not lose information about working fountains. Tell us if you want them removed.

We may suspend or close an account if these terms are broken, if we can no longer verify that the holder represents the Authority, if the account is used to attempt to identify individuals, or if the law requires it. Except where immediate action is necessary, we will explain the reason and give you at least 30 days to respond before closing an account.

16. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. We will email active Authority accounts and give at least 30 days' notice before a change takes effect. You may close the account during the notice period, in which case the change never applies to you.

Each version is numbered. We record which version you accepted and when, and we keep a copy of every published version. If you ask, we will send you the text of the version you accepted, which we expect you may need for your own records.

17. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by Polish law, and disputes will be heard by the courts of Warsaw, Poland.

We recognise that a public body is often required by its own law to litigate before its own courts. If that applies to you, tell us in writing when you accept these terms, naming the rule that requires it. From then on, proceedings between us will be brought before the courts of the place where you have your seat instead of Warsaw.

That change affects the forum only. Polish law continues to govern these terms, and the licence in section 7, the liability provisions in section 14 and the data protection provisions in section 9 continue to apply unchanged, except where a mandatory rule of your own law provides otherwise. The arrangement is deliberately narrow and must be in writing, so that the competent court is settled in advance.

Before starting proceedings, please contact [email protected]. We will try to resolve the matter directly, and will attempt mediation if that fails. Neither of us is prevented from seeking urgent relief at any time.

18. General provisions

Independent parties. Nothing here creates employment, agency, partnership or a joint venture, and neither party may represent the other.
No exclusivity. You may use any other tool, and we work with any Authority that qualifies.
No endorsement. Neither party may state or imply that the other endorses it beyond the plain fact of participation.
Assignment. Neither party may transfer these terms without the other's written consent, except that we may transfer to a successor that undertakes to honour them.
Severability. If any part is unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
Precedence. For anything you do as an Authority, these terms prevail. Section 19.1 of the Terms of Service sets out the full order of precedence.
Entire agreement. These terms and the documents they refer to are the whole agreement about your use of the panel.
Waiver. If either of us does not enforce a right straight away, that does not mean it is given up.
Survival. Sections 9, 14 and 17 continue to apply after the account is closed.
Language. We publish these terms in English and in Polish. If your seat is in Poland, the Polish version is the binding one. Otherwise the English version prevails if a translation differs. Both are available at any time, and a link to the other one sits at the top of this page. Where your own law requires an official version in another national language, tell us and we will provide one.

19. Contact

Municipal support

[email protected]

Legal and data protection