Rain water and my cabin and hi from a new guy

[nube]

Hi guys I am from Alberta Canada and have been reading up tons here. I have 1 old trappers cabin and one that I built in the middle of nowhere. I love it! I put solar on them both and run my lights of LED 12 volt lightbulbs and a car battery.
My next big project is collection of rain water and hook up my 12 volt battery to a 12 volt RV pump for water. I want to put the rain barrels in the ground I think.....then fill with rain water and use it as drinking water.
I am trying to figure out what is the best for this and make it all work and looking for ideas. I don't use much water at all at the cabin so a smaller container is fine. I am not living there full time but just a few days at a time then back a couple weeks later.
Here are my concerns:
1. It freezes in winter. I had the thought if I filled the container underground it might not freeze and I might be able to get some use out of it in winter. The odd time my roof heats enough to melt the snow and it might collect in the barrel. If not I am sure I can use it for quite a while before needing to haul my own water up. Thats if it doesn't freeze.... but no biggy if it does.
2. How do you keep the water purified in the container without growing algae or anything? I figured if I buried the tank it might eleveate some of this when the sun does not

 

[snoobler]

1. I'm guessing you'd need to bury the top of the barrel at least 4' down to keep it from freezing.
2. Sodium hypochlorite, 68% or higher (pool shock). 1 heaping tablespoon per 200 gallons (CDC guidance for sanitizing water). I do this for our above ground totes, and we never have algae problems. Also, being completely underground means algae won't survive, but you'll likely get some organic material and bacteria from the roof.

 

[nosys70]

you do not need to conserve water. You just filter it before using it.
you can put a 3 stage filter (10 micron, 1 micron, UV) or use reverse osmosis (but reverse osmosis is dumping water during the process, so it is not recommended if water availability is limited).
If you filter just enough water you need for a few days, you can have tabletop tank for it or even better a water dispenser.
you can also make your own fizzle water, that is conserving longer.
Rain water is acid, so the best is to find big limestones you put in the tank to balance PH.
You can also find cartridge (usually expensive) or 25kg bag of mineral powder (a teaspoon per gallon is ok).
i used this one https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/drinking-mineral-water-powder-composition-1206176812.html

Getting algae on the stone is not bad, it proves your water is good.
without light, you will probably not get algae anyway.
a bit of bleach sometime will take care of the batcteria.

you need to do that only for drinkable water, so you can minimize filter (a set of filter can be used for hundred of gallons)
for all other uses, just use it untreated.

for water coming from the roof, take care to use a system that drains the first gallon (first flush).
it is easy to build, you can even purchase one.

 

[DThames]

Study "water cistern". You can build or buy one and have better results than several barrels, less plumbing for sure.

Note that when the ground is saturated with water even concrete cisterns, septic tanks, sand filters (all concrete boxes) can float out of the ground if they overall weight is less than their water displacement. So they can't be empty if the ground is saturated. A plastic barrel would need to be nearly full to be properly weighted.

Your plumbing will need to below the frost line but the entire cistern wouldn't have to be as the ground is pretty warm when you get a little below the frost line and the heat coming in at the bottom will warm the entire mass.

Here is a little pump that I have. On a pump note the "head" rating is how far it can lift water. If you put your storage down hill from the cabin this might be a factor.

 

[nube]

Great info guys! Keep it coming. I am learning lots!