NANJING, Dec. 30 -- Six companies in east China's Jiangsu Province were ordered to pay 160 million yuan (26 million U.S. dollars) for discharging waste chemical to rivers by a court on Tuesday.

It is the highest fine of its kind in China ever imposed.

The companies from Taizhou City were ordered to pay the amount to an environmental protection fund within 30 days. They were found guilty of discharging 25,000 tons of waste acid into two rivers, which caused serious pollution, according to Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court.

In August, Taizhou Intermediate People's court sentenced 14 people involved in the pollution to prison terms ranging from two to five years and ordered the companies to pay 160 million yuan within nine months.

The six companies appealed and Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court upheld the ruling on Tuesday.