My containers are all under 6 gallons. I rotate through this stock around six-nine months. Not a problem. but I do use filtered water and aerate before use.

I don't know if you are aware or not, but you may want to check your state's regulations regarding capture/storage of rainwater. Here in Colorado it is unlawful.

Even for capture and release ;-)

I've had bottled water that tasted like the plastic bottle after just a few months.

Illegal? Really?

Thats absurd. But wasn't it Colorado that squashed an Oil Shale project that would have provided us as much oil as there is in the middle east because the state demanded an obscene amount of money for the use of the Colorado river made the costs prohibitive?

I read somewhere that a guy got half a dozen discarded water heaters for free and connected them in series to the water supply line for his house.

If he ever lost city water pressure, he had something like 400 gallons of nice fresh water on hand. No muss, no fuss.

"It's Now Legal to Catch a Raindrop in Colorado" - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/us/29rain.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

"For the first time since territorial days, rain will be free for the catching here... Here in Colorado, the old law created a kind of wink-and-nod shadow economy. Rain equipment could be legally sold, but retailers said they knew better than to ask what the buyer intended to do with the product... State water officials acknowledged that they rarely enforced the old law... But Kevin Rein, Colorado’s assistant state engineer, said enforcement would focus on people who violated water rules on a large scale... A study in 2007 proved crucial to convincing Colorado lawmakers that rain catching would not rob water owners of their rights. It found that in an average year, 97 percent of the precipitation that fell in Douglas County, near Denver, never got anywhere near a stream. The water evaporated or was used by plants."

Reading that article, I discovered that it is illegal to catch rainwater here in WA, and in ID, also. But that will probably change, too.

Well, you learn something every day! It never occurred to me that catching and storing rain water could be considered a crime, but I suppose it makes some kind of sense in very arid areas. Are there special "Rainwater Police" who enforce this, and what are the consequences if you are caught with a barrel of rainwater?

Who owns the rain? Individuals, society at large, privately held water bottling companies?

State and local municipalities own the water, and code enforcement officers who are always driving around town inspecting properties for code violations usually do the enforcement. The consequences are confiscation of equipment and a fine.

It also depends on water demands in an area. Even though the Douglas County model demonstrated non-significance, I am sure if there was another region in the state that could demonstrate otherwise and wanted to push the issue, the regulation would be back on the books, at least for part of the state. In Queensland AU, it was a pretty hefty fine if you were caught sequestering rain water, and enforcement at the time was pretty diligent. They were in a dire situation there, though. Idaho might be convinced to drop the regulation, but as long as you've got commie liberals running the show in Washington, I wouldn't ever expect the law there to get repealed.