Well, the underground cistern came to mind because some of my older friends said that's what they did many years ago. Apparently being underground kept the water cool and halted a lot of the potential bacteria. And these were also used as drinking water cisterns. Then again, I guess it's a catch-22, if it's in the ground I guess you have to pump it out, if it is above ground you can use gravity.
By the way, you mentioned your stash and "I'd post a picture but it's the messy part of the property, as you can imagine."
Nowadays those "junk piles" are better known as a "resource area"! That's where you go to pull items from for your next creation, building project, etc. Enjoy it!
Shoe (off to feed chickens and gather eggs....)
