Water is the ultimate regional resource. It evaporates into a region's air. It falls onto a region as rain. It sinks into a region's aquifers and flows through a region via streams and rivers.
Along the way, it picks up and carries a region's pollutants: chemicals, sediments, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Those pollutants in our region flow through creeks into the Susquehanna River and then into the Chesapeake Bay.
So the pollutants in the river and bay are in part our problems -- regional problems.
Regional problems should have regional solutions.
That's why the federal government has enacted environmental regulations seeking to limit pollutants washed into the bay -- known as the total maximum daily load. The impacts of those regulations, of course, wash down to states, counties and municipalities. And those impacts can be costly -- requiring sewer plant improvements, better land use management, stream restorations, etc.
One big part of the problem comes from agriculture -- runoff of animal waste and fertilizers.
Another is urban and suburban storm water -- water that runs off of roofs, parking lots, roads and other impervious surfaces, carrying pollutants such as weed killers, lawn fertilizers, pet waste and oil from vehicles into streams and ultimately into the bay.
In York County, we have 52 miles of such impaired waterways, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Predictably, these smaller regions have been charged by federal regulations to clean up their storm water runoff acts.
Many York County municipalities must have what are known as MS4 permits for runoff discharges into waterways.
The feds will gradually tighten those regulations -- and municipalities that don't make the grade could be penalized in the form of funding cuts, denied construction permits, etc.
Municipalities with MS4 permits (there are 43 in York County) must have plans to address the issue. But does it make sense for 43 municipalities to come up with 43 different plans in York County?
Of course not. Local officials quickly realized that a cooperative, regional plan is the way to go.
These pollutants move through regional waters, and so they should be addressed by regional efforts.
It's the first such regional runoff remediation plan in the state, according to York County Planning Commission director Felicia Dell -- and cheers to the state Department of Environmental Protection for approving such an approach.
We can be proud to have such trailblazing thinking from our local officials -- in a community that too often dismisses regional cooperation.
In fact, the effort put together by these groups should be a model for other counties in the bay watershed that will be affected by MS4 regulations.
The partners in this effort are currently working on a plan of action to address runoff regionally that will eventually result in remediation projects that are smartly targeted to get the most bang for the environmental buck.
That's good old York County pragmatism at work.