what's up the pike: slow news, fast water

- From the listservs: Woodside Park resident Robin Siegel posted this photo of a water main break at Noyes Drive and Fairview last week. (You may know Siegel, a volunteer for the Humane Society, from her reports of lost East County pets that frequently appear on the local listservs.) If you haven't checked it out before, our friends at Maryland Politics Watch has written extensively this month on WSSC's inability to maintain their own pipes and some major corruption on the Prince George's half of the bi-county water authority.

- A recently released water quality report says the health of the Paint Branch, which traverses East County and feeds into the Anacostia River, has "improved somewhat," according to the Post. Montgomery County didn't publish their findings at least six months after they were made because of news that water quality of streams in Clarksburg, where thousands of new homes have gone up over the past few years, has decreased significantly. When the report was completed, major construction on the InterCounty Connector had not yet begun in East County, meaning that its impact on the Paint Branch and other local streams that the highway will cross has yet to be revealed. (Thanks to Davey Rogner for the heads-up.)

- Good news: Veterans' Plaza, the long-awaited (and hotly contested) successor to "the Turf" at Ellsworth and Fenton in Downtown Silver Spring, could open as soon as this November.

- As always, check out my weekly column in the Diamondback, the University of Maryland's independent student newspaper. This week, I'm writing about how to better design student housing.