The township is the county’s first ever municipality to be recognized as a “healthy city,” Chou said.

Currently, about 60 cities in the world have been certified by the WHO as “healthy cities.”

Over the past few years, the county government has spared no efforts in improving the water quality in the previously smelly Danshui river, which has been seriously polluted for a long time, Chou said. Several river clean-up projects launched by the county government have helped the river regain its ecological diversity, according to Chou.

For example, in the past two years, the county government has made efforts to increase the county’s household sewer connection rate, with the rate reaching 17.5 percent this June, Chou noted. Chou added that each year, an additional 40,000 households are expected to be connected to the sewerage treatment system from now on.

Chou made the announcement during a ceremony held Thursday to mark the inauguration of the Danshui Water Resource Recycling Center. Recycling water resources has been one of the county government’s most important goals.

The WHO initiated the Healthy Cities Movement in 1987 to promote its principle of “Health for All.” The movement has roots in the public health culture of many parts of the world such as the local health systems in Latin America and the “Health Culture” movement in Japan.