A local school is taking steps to go green and save a little money too. Facilities personnel at James Madison University are installing an irrigation system for their garden outside Wilson Hall.

School employees partnered with members of an adult education landscaping class to install the pipes.

The new watering system uses only about 25 percent of the water previously used when watering by hand. It also saves on the hours employees have to spend treating plants.

"Water's going to be a major issue in the Shenandoah Valley in the next three to five years," says Sam Saufley, adult education program supervisor at Valley Vocational Technical School. "If you look at the number of new house starts and the number of developments going on in the county, talk to the supervisors in quite a few of the counties here, water is going to be a major issue in the next several years."

The class also serves as an opportunity to gain job skills in this tough economy. Plans to expand the irrigation system to other parts of the campus are also in the works.