We get more than enough rainfall throughout the year here in ontario canada. We do have 3 or so weeks a year or more were it can be very dry. To get through those mini droughts, two 250 (1000 litre) totes would be enough water for the three of us for laundry, cleaning dishes, and bathing. The property is in a valley so I'll soon be building water catchments up the hill for irrigation. The rain collection totes aren't quite equipt to handle the cold winters here so i'll be digging under ground cisterns for rain water collection. We bring in bottled water for drinking and cooking, We had an underground cistern installed before winter for clean truck delivered drinking water. That cistern holds 1000 gallons, $100 per fillup delivery - after doing the calculations we found that 2 deliveries a year would be plenty. If the trucks ever stooped running then we would fill it with rain water and treat it accordingly for drinking :)