Verified as of September 16, 2026. We re-check these pages quarterly.
The three that reach Volusia
DeLeon. Roughly 24,000 acres in the north-west of the county, centered on DeLeon Springs. It reaches DeLeon Springs itself and Glenwood, and its southern edge runs toward the north side of DeLand.
Volusia Blue. The largest of the three at roughly 44,000 acres, around Blue Spring. It covers most of DeLand, Orange City and Deltona, and reaches DeBary.
Gemini. The smallest, around 3,000 acres near Gemini Springs at the south-west corner of the county, touching DeBary and the western edge of Deltona.
Inside all three, the rule for existing systems is the same: on a lot of one acre or less, a permit to repair, modify or replace requires at least 65 percent nitrogen reduction.
What "inside" does and does not mean
Two distinctions do all the work here, and both are routinely missed.
Priority focus area is not the same as basin. The basin management area is much larger than the priority focus area inside it. Being inside the basin but outside the priority focus area means the existing-system rule does not reach you at all.
One acre is a hard line. The existing-system requirement applies to lots of one acre or less. A lot above that is outside the requirement even in the middle of a priority focus area. Check the acreage on the property appraiser's record rather than from memory, because "about an acre" is exactly the size people get wrong.
Places we checked
We tested each of our service areas against the state's own priority focus area mapping in September 2026. Inside: DeLeon Springs and Glenwood in the DeLeon area; DeLand, Orange City and Deltona in the Volusia Blue area. Outside: Pierson and Seville, both of which sit north of every mapped area despite being surrounded by springs country. Lake Helen is the genuine edge case — the center of the city is outside, but the boundary runs close enough that part of it is inside.
None of that is a substitute for checking a specific address. A town-level answer tells you what is likely; a parcel-level answer tells you what is true.
A worked example
Two houses on the same Orange City street, both inside the Volusia Blue priority focus area, both with a tired drain field.
The first sits on 0.28 acres. A permit to replace the field requires a nitrogen-reducing system — an aerobic unit at $10,000–$20,000 installed rather than the $5,000–$15,000 the field alone would have cost.
The second sits on 1.15 acres. Same street, same spring, same water. Because the lot is over an acre, the existing-system requirement does not apply and a conventional replacement field can be permitted where the site evaluation supports it.
The difference between those two outcomes is about a tenth of an acre and roughly the price of a used car. It is worth ten minutes on the property appraiser's site to find out which one you are.
How to check, free
- Look up the parcel on the state's ENR requirements map, which shows the priority focus areas and the policy that applies to each.
- Pull your lot size from the Volusia County property appraiser's record.
- Call Volusia County Environmental Management on 386-736-5927 if the boundary looks close, or ask us and we will check both before quoting anything.
Verified as of September 16, 2026. We re-check these pages quarterly. The boundaries described here were confirmed against the state's published priority focus area mapping on that date; basin plans are revised on a cycle and boundaries have moved before. Confirm current availability before counting on a number.
All work is performed by local licensed, permitted Florida-registered septic tank contractors.