There’s something to be said for being one’s brother’s keeper — but not so much for being one’s neighboring community’s sugar daddy.

An ongoing state Department of Environmental Protection program requires municipalities to control the level of pollutants and sediment that runs into local waterways.

The Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System — also known as MS4 — is required in designated southern communities in the county that are not tied to a sewage system.

The communities have been forced to either apply for a waiver or a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to develop stormwater management programs after having met sediment reduction requirements.

Currently, there is no funding to accompany the project’s strict requirements, and the leaders of some municipalities are making the argument that taking a regional approach to the program would be better than going municipality to municipality.

We agree with them.

One of the concerns — and rightly so — from some municipalities is the effect of neighboring communities’ remediation efforts on their own community.

For example, initiatives to reduce sediment in one community — such as cleaning catch basins or street sweeping — could have a negative impact on another municipality downstream.

Therefore, the municipality-by-municipality approach currently being used could inadvertently harm specific communities.

Or, as Mayor Bill Gillespie notes, Saxonburg could be forced to add a fee for residents if a neighboring municipality’s issues spill over into his neck of the woods, thereby penalizing people in his community.

That’s not right.

If the DEP’s project instead viewed the initiative from a regional perspective, it could prevent one municipality’s measures from overly affecting a neighbor, and costs would likely be split more evenly among communities.

Such an approach could possibly prevent a project — such as a runoff system — in one community leading to more costs for a neighboring municipality.

Winfield Township secretary Adam Hartwig has proposed that municipal leadership meet with the county commissioners about the project — and Mark Gordon, the county’s chief of economic development and planning, says he is open to a collaborative approach.

Gordon said that communities affected by the MS4 should work together, and we agree with this suggestion.

At the same time, county officials should work with municipalities to ensure that the burden of the initiative is equitably spread among them, and that a few communities aren’t carrying the weight for others.

— NCD