HA'IKU, Hawai'i — About 50 Maui taro farmers waved signs this weekend in hopes of gaining support for more water being placed in their streams.

The taro farmers want the state Commission on Water Resource Management to force East Maui Irrigation Co. and its parent company, Alexander and Baldwin Inc., to release much of the nearly 234 million gallons of water the company collects each day in its 74-mile irrigation system of ditches and tunnels.

"Does the ditch own the water?" asked 72-year-old protester James Sagawinit of Ha'iku, who waved signs along Hana Highway. "Water belongs to everyone. Not a certain few. They didn't make it. It comes from the heavens."

Taro growers claim state law gives Native Hawaiian farmers first rights on the water because the watershed is made up almost entirely of ceded Hawaiian lands, which are controlled by the state.

The state commission's report, which could be completed as early as next month, will develop flow standards for the Honopou, Hanehoi, Pi'ina'au, Waiokamilo and Wailuanui streams.

East Maui Irrigation uses the water for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.'s 35,000-acre sugar cane operations, as well as to supply drinking water for Upcountry residents.

The company argues that the state should try to find a water-sharing balance that will satisfy all sides. There is enough water for both the sugar plantations and taro farmers, said Garret Hew, who manages both East Maui Irrigation and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar's Pa'ia plantation.

"Unfortunately, those efforts have been stymied by some of the representatives of the taro growers, who view this situation as an 'us versus them,' 'win-lose,' 'all or nothing' conflict," Hew said in a statement Saturday. "Instead, it is out belief that by selecting the right streams, the right quantities of water and the right improvements to the water delivery systems, a 'win-win' result is possible."

The commission has maintained a status quo in recent years on how water is diverted from the state's nearly 400 perennial streams.

Its new report is in response to a 2000 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling in favor of returning water that was diverted from the Waiahole ditch on O'ahu since the 1920s to supply sugar crops. In that case, the ditch was no longer watering crops.

"We need to take it back from the corporations that are watering their grass that they call sugar cane," said 49-year-old protester Joyclynn Costa of Ha'iku.

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Information from: The Maui News, www.mauinews.com