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THE KANSAS LIFELINE

March 2018

ind your P's and Q's. And the TCR since the NPDWR set the MCLG and

MCL. And the SDWA by the EPA. And the LCR. And FBRR. And the

LT1ESWTR. (Put that in your CCR!) Not enough? We might soon be

adding more letters to this Alphabet soup: the GDPR from the EU.

What is GDPR?

The European Union made the General Data Protection Regulation active May

25, 2018, with the purpose of providing its citizens and residents strict data

protection and privacy, including data exported outside of the EU. That means,

any other country in the world who exchanges data from an EU citizen or resident

is subject to this law. Despite a two year transition period, many businesses and

systems who deal with customer data (which is almost everyone) have been in a

scramble to make sure they comply with this international regulation that is

directly binding an applicable even if not located in the EU.

How did this come about?

With so many security faux pas in current news, customers have felt at the

mercy of big businesses with questionable or downright unsafe practices with

their data. One individual protesting could barely be heard above the volume of

marketing dollars and data mining profits. It has left many scratching their heads,

lamenting, “Someone should do something about this.”

Now someone has. And that someone is the European Union. One might

assume this stringent set of regulations was in response to

recent prevalent data breaches, but in fact, these efforts had

started long before. In 1995, the EU published its Data

Protection Directive, but most ignored it as optional

guidance. GDPR, on the other hand, has teeth. Violators of

the GDPR may be subject to fines as steep as $12 million.

Why should you care?

It’s very unlikely that any Kansas rural water district or

small city has any dealings with EU residents or citizens.

And if they did, it’s equally unlikely that the EU would sue a

Kansas system to collect on any infractions. However, other

countries and collections of countries are watching closely,

poised to adopt similar measures, as their citizens demand

protection and fair treatment. Rumor has it, the U.S. may be

pressured to adopt similar regulation within the coming

years. Given the fact that every city and water district

M

By Jen Sharp, jensharp.com 

“Someone

Should Do

Something

About This…”

W

HAT

GDPR 

ISANDWHYYOURCITYOR

RWD 

SHOULDCARE

.