Members of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board vote Tuesday night on whether they'll encourage students to turn on the taps rather than turn to bottled water. (CBC)

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is looking at whether it can stop the flow of bottled water in schools.

In May, Ottawa trustees asked the board's staff if they thought the school could do away with the regular sale of bottled water by September 2009.

Staff members took on the challenge and set out a plan, which they are expected to deliver Tuesday evening.

The discussion is not about a ban, but about how schools might be able to encourage students to opt for tap water instead.

"Generally speaking, I think we can get rid of it," said Rob Campbell, the trustee for the school board's Zone 9.

But what the trustees will vote on Tuesday night, he said, is not a "terrible, full-fledged ban."

Bottles 'no green solution'

A ban, however, is what Joe Cressy of the Polaris Institute hopes might come out of Tuesday's presentation.

"There is no green solution to bottled water," said Cressy. "It's not environmentally friendly."

But the environment isn't the board's only concern when looking at the issue of bottled water, says Elizabeth Griswold of the Canadian Bottled Water Association.

"The typical person who drinks bottled water," she said, "is choosing it in place of other packaged beverages that have higher calories and higher sugar content."

Students who can't buy water, she says, might then be encouraged to buy something else, rather than turning on the taps.

To make sure that buying isn't the only option, says Coun. Diane Holmes, the city will first have to make some changes.

Before schools think about banning bottled water altogether, she said, the city has to make sure city water is available.

"I think the time has come to seriously look at how we can ensure that we have fountains in all our city facilities," said Holmes.

Last week, the board of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities voted to ask cities and towns to phase out the sale of bottled water on municipal property.

After school board staff present their recommendations at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, board trustees will vote on whether they'll begin to discourage the sale of bottled water on board property.