BEIJING, China (AFP) — Five people have been jailed for spilling industrial waste into a drinking water source, causing the supply for a city of five million people to be cut off for a week, state media reported Saturday.

Three petrochemical company managers in Huai’an, eastern China, hired two private contractors in February last year to empty waste into an irrigation ditch connected to the city’s drinking water supply, Xinhua news agency said.

Residents reported a strange smell coming from their taps, leading to an investigation into the chemical firm, and Huai’an was forced to cut off its drinking water for a week, the report said.

A local court on Friday handed down five jail terms ranging from nine to 29 months, Xinhua reported, citing court sources. Three others were given suspended sentences.

The court also fined the firm one million yuan (US$146,000) and ordered it to pay compensation of 350,000 yuan to the water company.

Public health crises caused by chemical spills are frequent in China.

In 2005, a similar incident polluting the River Songhua led to the interruption of the drinking water supply for a million people in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang.