It doesn’t happen as often as it should, but now and then there occurs a partnership that makes perfect sense. That would be the union — or possible union — of the Ocean Pines Association and the Coastal Bays Program.

Although the two entities have worked together on numerous occasions, one of the most recent being September’s Bay Day, which earned the community an award from the bays program, their proposed collaboration on Ocean Pines’ multiple drainage problems would be a different kind of project.

This would be a serious pursuit that would allow each entity to address different concerns while seeking common solutions to water runoff — or lack of it — in the St. Martin River and watershed.

Obviously, Ocean Pines needs help addressing its drainage issues in flood-prone areas, and, just as obviously, the coastal bays organization doesn’t want nutrients and other contaminates washing into the river and bay.

By working together, finding answers that embrace both objectives should be much easier than going it alone, especially considering the bay program’s expertise at finding and obtaining grant money necessary to take on whatever water quality projects Ocean Pines and the bays program deem appropriate.

As OPA Board of Directors member Tom Janasek point out last week, however, the results of this venture won’t be immediate. Studies will be conducted, alternatives will be discussed, plans will be made and the search for funding will be undertaken

It’s going to be a long process, but its chances of success will be improved significantly with what most everyone hopes will be a long-term relationship.