How about old 40 gallon oil drums? Do you have 'wheelie bins' in Florida? You could bury one or two of those...
As for pumping water out from a butt/tank etc, I have used a pressure hose to suck water out - works a treat. Instead of connecting the input hose to a tap/faucet just dangle the input hose in the butt.
You can use the pressure hose in two ways for watering plants:
1) Put it on max pressure output and spray, from a few yards away,
above the plants - this will deliver a fine mist spray that will settle nicely over the plants and ground.
2) Alternatively, take the pressure head off the handle and it will act like a regular low pressure hose pipe.
Either way it is easy to control the amount of water.
HTH
Edit:
'Wheelie bin' or recycling bin like these can be purchased in a variety of sizes. Having lids will keep evaporation down to a minimum. Maybe a trip down to your local recycling centre to see if thay have any old containers that would be suitable, maybe pick up a wheelie without wheels cheaply (or for free?)
