Contaminates from the neighborhood that enters our storm drains is any garbage in the gutters along the curb. I have seen paper and plastic trash along with leaves and brush. Sometimes paint and oil also enter the storm drains. I encourage all neighbors to park in the driveway on street sweeper days so the street sweeper does it's job and cleans the debris from the curb sides.

Today, I do collect water during days of rain. I have 15 five (5) gallon buckets with handles and when it rains water runs off my roof in several places. I fill all 15 of my 5 gallon bucks two to four times depending how long and how hard it rains. Next I pure the 5 gallon buckets of rain water through a filter as the roof has dirt and soot. After I filter the water I store it in my 6 55 gallon polyurethane drums. This gives me 330 gallons of usable rain water. I pump the water out of the drums with a hand pump and water my flower beds during the dry part of the year. 

I dug up a pvc T-section in the front yard. I went and purchased new PVC parts and cut out the leaky fitting and installed the new fittings. I waited 85 minutes and turned the water on to discover the leak was fixed. I covered the hole and replaced the parts of the lawn. This inspired me to change out six sprinkler heads in the flower beds from a spray nozzle to a drip nozzle to cut down on the over-spray a typical sprinkler head can produce. 

I dug up a pvc T-section in the front yard. I went and purchased new PVC parts and cut out the leaky fitting and installed the new fittings. I waited 85 minutes and turned the water on to discover the leak was fixed. I covered the hole and replaced the parts of the lawn. This inspired me to change out six sprinkler heads in the flower beds from a spray nozzle to a drip nozzle to cut down on the over-spray a typical sprinkler head can produce.