Water quality testing by members of the Mars Area School District Water Protection Program found four "hot spots" in local streams and ponds, Adams supervisors learned last week.

These hot spots included:

• Pond and access streams behind Mars-Bethel Par 3 golf course, which tested positive for heavy concentrations of nitrates and phosphates.

• Streams by Adams Ridge had surface detergents and low levels of phenols.

• Streams near Hutchman Road tested positive for coliform bacteria.

• Treesdale's two lower golf course ponds tested positive for nitrates, phenols and detergents.

Bill Wesley, coordinator of the Water Protection Program and a biology teacher at Mars Area High School, stressed that streams are dynamic systems and substances can pass through them within 48 hours.

The student volunteers plan to submit a complete report for each tested site to the supervisors early next month. The township and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will determine if any further steps are required.

Mars Area High School students volunteer throughout the year to test water in Adams and Valencia. The municipalities are required by state law to test drainage into streams every two years.

Mr. Wesley, along with fellow teachers Carol Wack, Brian Hobaugh and Brian Zavacky, has led the student volunteer team for 16 years. The program won the Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in 1997.

To test sites around the township, the students used GPS technology to locate more than 300 drainage sites. At each site, they record the drain type, condition, stream volume flow and the results of drainage testing. Each site is tested for ammonia, coliform bacteria, nitrates, copper, detergents and the macroinvertebrate health index. When a site tests positive for one of these substances or ranks poorly on the health index, the program sends out more students and teachers to retest and investigate upstream to locate the source of the problem.

The program is establishing a baseline reading for each site. Volunteers plan to compare the baseline reading against a graph of each site's test results. Any variations in the graph will allow the team to easily identify potential red flags. The program's goal is to test each site on a bi-annual basis.

Student volunteer Tori Gressang also spoke about the testing program at last week's supervisors' meeting. Over the past few years, more than 150 students have participated in the water testing program. The supervisors thanked the volunteers for their hard work.

Also at the meeting, several members of the Adams parks and recreation board discussed the role of the Mars Area joint recreation committee with the supervisors. Kim Geyer, Mars Area school board president, spoke on behalf of the recreation committee. She invited the Adams parks board and the supervisors to attend a May 29 meeting with neighboring municipalities and state officials to discuss how to make parks and recreation better for the community as a whole.

Supervisors approved the quarterly budget payment of $8,750 to the Mars Area Public Library. They also approved an additional payment of $5,000 for the library's building fund.