Two men have been arrested for allegedly discharging hazardous acid waste into the Grand Canal, a World Heritage site, according to local procurators.

They are accused of releasing the waste into the Suzhou section of the canal, the world's oldest and longest artificial waterway, since October, 2013, the procuratorate in the city in east China's Jiangsu Province, said.

The two used waste acid to produce a water-purifying agent and then deliberately allowed the used material, stored in a leaky container, to enter the waterway which was only 10 meters from the container, according to prosecutors.

Local environmental protection authorities ordered them to stop production of the agent in December, 2013.

However, the suspects continued to collect waste acid from other factories, which paid them, 120 to 150 yuan (US$20-24) per ton, for disposal of the waste.

As of February this year, they had obtained around 90,000 yuan from factories and simply let the waste leak into the canal.

Local police found out what they were doing last year after data showed abnormal fluctuation of water quality in the canal.

In June last year, UNESCO included the Grand Canal, which has a history of more than 2,400 years, in its World Heritage list.

The 1,011 kilometer waterway, which runs from Beijing to Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province, is the largest civil engineering project before the Industrial Revolution.

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