A $20 million conservation land deal for more than 3,000 acres east of Deltona was approved Tuesday, providing a site that could become a future water reservoir to serve southwest Volusia.

The governing board of the St. Johns River Water Management District approved the purchase of the land south of Lake Ashby in central Volusia, along an undeveloped corridor which county officials are trying to preserve.

Both Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno and Charles Lee, with Audubon of Florida, supported the conservation deal, which would boost the amount of land already preserved within central Volusia. The county and district officials have already conserved more than half of the 80,000 acres of the wildlife habitat being targeted for preservation.

Of the latest purchase, more than half of the 3,321 acre parcel, near State road 415 and Maytown Road, would be saved as conservation land. A western section of that land could be used for a reservoir.

All of Central Florida could face water supply problems in the future and a reservoir for southwest Volusia could play a key role in managing water supply in the future, said Hal Wilkening, district resource management director. Such a reservoir may be needed between 10 to 20 years from now.

"One of the big issues in water supply is always storage, especially here in Florida because there are periods of heavy rainfall with flooding and then periods of drought," said Wilkening.

However, few available parcels are large enough to accommodate a reservoir of the size needed. The tract being bought by the district includes 1,300 acres for the potential reservoir, is located close to Deltona and also close enough to the St. Johns River that it could potentially hold excess water during the river's flooding cycles.