[mom-from-missouri]

My parents rain gutters run into their old cistern (they are now on city water). That they use to water the garden during the summer. A friend of mine has her gutters go into a rain barrel. She has a lid on it, so debre doesnt get into it and she has a screen on the bottom of her gutter as well. The barrel has a spout on the bottom and she uses that for her garden. I have never heard her complain of it getting icky, but during the big west nile scare, she did put some sort of drops into the barrel.