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I don't know if you've ever put up shingles on a roof but I can say this. Roof's are really, really dirty.
The collected rain water stinks from dead things in the gutters of the house. Water runs over dead bugs, animals, bird poop and leaves, volia stinky water with bits of organic matter decaying. It's not the water that's stinky, it's the biological detritus rotting (Mainly reason you don't drink or wash with the stuff).
Don't bother putting bleach in it either btw, the smell won't go away and you'll just end up poisoning your lawn. Ever accidentally split bleach on grass, it lasts maybe five minutes before turning brown. Best way to deal with it is to use the rain water collected on the first nice day after a rain. It empties the barrel, waters the lawn and even fertilizes it a little bit with the stuff that washes off the roof.
oh yeah, in the fall you will want to scrape the sludge out from the bottom of it and throw it in the veggie garden after harvesting. It's nitrogen rich and of course free. It stinks though.
//live in the country, rain barrels are standard in older homes and yup they stink.
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