TORONTO - Two brothers involved in a deadly tainted-water scandal that killed seven people in the small Ontario town of Walkerton were sentenced Monday, one to a term in jail and the other to house arrest.

Stan Koebel, a former manager of the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission was sentenced to a year in prison for his role in the outbreak of E. coli 4-1/2 years ago that killed seven people and made thousands of others ill.

His brother, Frank, a water foreman with the commission, was sentenced to nine months' house arrest.

The Koebels pleaded guilty last month to endangering public safety through improperly monitoring and treating Walkerton's water supply.

According to a government inquiry, the outbreak occurred after heavy rainfall washed cattle manure into a well that was insufficiently chlorinated.

Residents of Walkerton, a farming community of 5,000 northwest of Toronto, began complaining of vomiting, fever, and bloody diarrhea in May 2000.

Tests later revealed E. coli contamination and an inquiry found the Koebel brothers had done little to resolve the town's water-treatment problems and had lied to public health officials about the safety of the water supply.

The inquiry also laid part of the blame at the feet of Ontario's Conservative government for spending cutbacks at the environment ministry and for poor regulation of water-testing services, which had been privatized.

The Walkerton E. coli outbreak was considered one of Canada's worst public-health disasters and resulted in a provincial overhaul of drinking water legislation.

Ontario town of Walkerton were sentenced Monday, one to a term in jail and the other to house arrest.