I wish we could get away with ignoring the rules, ordinances, etc., of the HOA. People used to do that until the city hired a code enforcement officer. Get a notice taped on the door, get a call from city hall and a fine in the mail.
When we made the commitment to move to the Houston area, I thought “Texas, the land of personal freedom and smaller, less intrusive government” If you buy anywhere near Houston, you are about 99.9% guaranteed to be in an HOA neighborhood. We in Conroe 40 miles north of Houston, and we are 6 miles north of the Loop around the skirts of town, and we still have an HOA. It is an easy going one and the fees are small, but they still get finicky about some things, like they don’t want us to have a chicken coop with enclosed yard.
Is there a limit on the number of 50 gallon drums? Here’s a design for water storage that packs a lot in a small space. You’ could probably rig up some sort of gravity system to fill them from a collection drum.
I like the looks of this one, but this is more for you emergency water supply. Most of the systems I have seen have been a whole row of 50 or 55 gallon drums sitting upright with a link so that they equalize automatically as the diverter fills one of the drums.
http://www.everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html