Outdoor wash stations for hand-washing and other minor tasks are such a handy thing! When rain volumes allow, I keep mine filled with water from the rain collection tubs. Sometimes in the dry season I refill them from the tap so I can save my dwindling rainwater reserves for watering the trees & other plants, and for washing my own self.
After filling the wash stations, I then add a tiny bit of plain chlorine bleach, particularly if it’s a translucent or transparent container. To keep algae from growing, and also add a bit of disinfectant power.
The green canvas cover on the white jug also helps keep algae from growing, although its main purpose is to have the container aesthetically blend in with the yard.
The canvas cover is half of a giant duffel bag that somebody tossed at the curbside. It had a broken zipper and some busted seams.
I actually like the visibility of the silver coffee urn. (The urn was given to me along time ago by a departed neighbor, and I think it used to be a coffee urn – I cut the electric cord off and turned it into a water dispenser). I think it’s pretty and don’t mind it being visible.
I had the tall white jug sitting on a stool. Sort of like a mini water tower. However, the other day when I was filling it from the bounteous rain tub, it went off balance and almost fell over, and my shimming skills were not up to leveling it. In any case, even if it hadn’t been for the problematic top-heaviness of the setup, the tallness of the jug made it hard to fill. It’s much easier to scoop water into it when it’s not above my shoulder height ha ha. So I decided to omit the stool and just put it on blocks a convenient height about a foot and a half above ground level.
It makes a handy foot-wash station, and also it’s easy to stick a container under it and collect some water for minor washing tasks. (I say minor washing tasks because a washing station is more useful if it doesn’t have to be refilled constantly.)
There are wash stations in other parts of the yard as well. Biggest one is about a 30-gallon rain barrel with a faucet. (Most of my rain barrels don’t have faucets; I just remove the lid and scoop the water out with a pot or can.)
The amounts of water per use are small, just enough to sometimes create an evaporative cooling effect on the hot concrete.
Back in the “aughts,” when I lived in a little RV park in South Austin, the park manager kindly allowed me to place a barrel to collect rainwater off the roof of the laundry/restroom building. (He was an all-around great guy.) I’d keep a few small limestone chunks in the barrel to harden the water a bit. I sometimes do that with baking soda in my little hand-wash stations here.