More than 800 buildings have won gold and silver certificates under the Quality Water Recognition Scheme for Buildings this year, up from 500 last year.

Speaking at the scheme's presentation ceremony today Director of Water Supplies Ma Lee-tak said the enhancement features introduced to the scheme last year have been widely supported by property owners, owners' corporations, property management companies and management agents.

"There are more than 2,700 valid certificates, representing an encouraging increase of 30% from last year. The cumulative number of households having benefited from this scheme is more than 1.16 million," Mr Ma said.

He appealed to awardees to support the voluntary Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme to be soon launched by the department. It will inform consumers of the level of water consumption and efficiency of plumbing fixtures and appliances used in bathrooms, toilets, kitchens and laundries. It will be implemented in phases for different groups of items, with the first being showerheads.