"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
...
Message I posted a while ago didn't get through. I was asking (I
think NAD) what he/she put in the barrels to keep the water from
getting contaminated or breeding mosquitoes w/o harming plants that
drank that water.

Anybody?

Here in Australia where David H-S and I both live, collecting rain water in
tanks (cisterns in USian) is common in all rural areas and it's used for
domestic supply (drinking, washing). Whilst these tanks are quite a lot
larger than rain butts, the same thing applies to them as it does to smaller
water holding devices. To avoid getting mosquitoes or dead possums or birds
in your drinking water, you make sure all tank inlets/outlets are screened
or closed in. Water is collected off the house gutters and runs directly
through a pipe straight into the tank or the pipe stops above a screened
hole in the top of the tank. You don't put anything in the tank - you just
exclude light.

Rain water is usually considered to be too high a quality for just plants
and frequently bore (well bore in USian) water is used for plants as it
doesn't have to be as clean as household water and nor does it need to be as
soft.