A chemical company boss who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for criminal enviromental negligence leading to a tap-water contamination scandal appealed his ruling Monday.

Sources from the Intermediate People's Court in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, told Xinhua Monday an appeal has been filed by Hu Wenbiao, chairman of Biaoxin Chemical Co in Yancheng, and the workshop director, Ding Yuesheng.

The convicts received their sentences from the Yandu District Court in Yancheng Friday. It was the first time that those who violated emission rules and caused environmental pollution were jailed on charges of spreading poison.

Hu was given 10 years on the charge of spreading poison and an additional one year for writing false value added tax invoices in another case. Ding was sentenced to six years in jail.

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Hu and Ding were held responsible for the illegal emission of the plant's poisonous and harmful waste water between November in 2007 and February 16 this year into a river in Yangcheng, which served as water supply for two local water works, the Yandu District Court said.

The court held that the two did so although they were aware that such acts were illegal.

More than 200,000 residents in Yancheng were deprived of tap water for nearly 67 hours in February following the contamination.

In similar contamination cases, suspects were usually convicted of the crime of environmental pollution with a maximum prison term of seven years, said Gu Xiang, a law expert in Nanjing University.

However, the death penalty can be given for spreading poison in China according to the Criminal Law.