When Panama City Beach officials in 1998 considered ways to divert 7 mgd of effluent from a northwest Florida estuary known as West Bay, they had no idea their solution would end up 15 years later as a recommended visitors’ destination by the New York Times.
But a February 2013 edition highlighted the new outfall location — a 2,900-acre wetland and nature park named Conservation Park — in its Travel Guide section listing top spots to visit in the area, a tourist magnet in the state’s Panhandle.Close collaboration“Our goal didn’t include becoming a visitors’ destination,” says Albert Shortt, city engineer and
