Collecting water for drinking, bathing, etc this winter from our barrels and stuff.

What's happening! Love to find out how we can get more water this winter to have for drinking, watering, bathing and stuff this year since our winters are milder and rain will be more scarce as the year go on. Any type of larger containers that will help water last for a long time and remain clean from drinking and stuff? Is there any way to intergrate winter water into our irrigation systems to have water prepared for the growing season ahead to beat the drought ahead into growing campaign? If any of have strong and inovative ideas for edification, please share it on this board to inspire others and myself. Take care.

Capturing and storing water is easy enough, it the sky gods are kind and rain on you. (I hope they are!) I hope they smile upon me as well.

However water from the sky should not be considered clean for drinking. Rain/snow is formed on dust particles which also carry bacteria. For internal consumption, bring these to a Pasteurizing temperature.

Check out the  Edible Acres youtube channel.
They do an amazing job watering their holding with retained rainwater using low tech low cost methods.
Here's a playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLihFHKqj6JepVsWOHPgSchnN8EKMwBDnA&si=LAbuYXKKPnjBF9q9

Here's a good representative video:

I second what Douglas said. The most common and effective methods of water purification are 1. boiling, which is easy and free, 2. chemical treatment with chlorine bleach, aquamira, or iodine 3. filter media such as what is used in a Sawyer, Katadyn, or LifeStraw product, and 4. UV light treatment. All of these should be considered limited/emergency use for any length of time, and your results may vary. boiling, chemical treatment, and UV light all leave sediment behind and drinking gritty water isn't fun. media filters are easily contaminated and difficult to maintain. If they freeze once, they're toast and you have to buy another. Using more than one method gives you better results because none of them are 100 percent effective, though some come close.

j

What's happening! I wanna find out if we can use underground irrigation to draw winter water in to run throughout the year and beyond for every day use besides watering. I never operate water in the winter before even if it's not frozen. Any way to keep the water from freezing to keep it running for drinking and stuff?

Blake, you asked about how to catch more water, now you are talking about water freezing.
I will answer the first.
If you look at the link in my signature there is a lot about capturing rainfall for drinking.
If you have a 20,000L tank the water will clean itself and you will not need, filters, charcoal, chemicals and UV lights.
IMO 200L barrels are a waste of time if you are serious about rainfall catchment.

We cant talk about collecting water without mentioning Brad Lancaster.

I would like to recommend these videos and this book:

https://permies.com/t/36676/Brad-Lancaster-Waste-Transform-waste

https://permies.com/wiki/51855/Rainwater-Harvesting-Drylands-Brad-Lancaster