simple DIY leaf filter

An individual in our local permaculture fb group has come upon some several hundred barrels and we will be acquiring them for rain barrels. Hopefully, we can put some spigots on a large number of them and sell them very cheaply and install them for free to encourage rainwater harvesting. We get 7" of rain a year, and the snow pack in the E Cascades is something like 40% of average, and that's where all our water comes from. And in our town and oil tank spilled into the river, from which we get all our water.
Of course we'll have to rainbarrelify then ourselves, and the question of a simple and relatively easy method to make a filter that can be easily installed. I've seen some in videos that were said to be like $75 and that is impractical.
Has anyone made one of these before? Or know of where good instructions can be found?

Do you mean a grate for filtering out the leaves for water use in the garden, or a filter for water use in the home?
For the latter, I've seen biofilters for water using rocks, sand, and soil that you can build on the cheap.
You might need multiple barrels and some tubing as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaCOlRlw3K4

This might work:
William

Thomas warren wrote:An individual in our local permaculture fb group has come upon some several hundred barrels and we will be acquiring them for rain barrels. Hopefully, we can put some spigots on a large number of them and sell them very cheaply and install them for free to encourage rainwater harvesting. We get 7" of rain a year, and the snow pack in the E Cascades is something like 40% of average, and that's where all our water comes from. And in our town and oil tank spilled into the river, from which we get all our water.
Of course we'll have to rainbarrelify then ourselves, and the question of a simple and relatively easy method to make a filter that can be easily installed. I've seen some in videos that were said to be like $75 and that is impractical.
Has anyone made one of these before? Or know of where good instructions can be found?

Just in case anyone is still interested because rain barrels can present all kinds of troubles to their new owners:

People who buy ready made rain barrels probably often need to do their own modifications. For example, we've had to daisy chain rain barrels in a down staircase series because only one often can't handle a real downpour without overflowing and even breaking free from its down spout. Our solution to keeping big gunk out of the tank and little gunk from clogging egress hoses is to 1) cover the downspout opening with a leg of pantyhose or men's dress sock, which needs to be cleaned out a few times a year, and 2) inside the tank against the opening for the hose valve, one of those green scrubber pads from the kitchen. Those pads will get gunky too over time. I won't use rain barrels that I can't get my arm down to the bottom because cleaning those is a nightmare.