Some 200 people packed Tuesday’s meeting of the state Commission on Water Resource Management on Maui, many of them urging the restoration of stream flows in the Lahaina area.

The largely Native Hawaiian audience told the commission that restoring stream flows not only is important to bring back aquatic life and support cultural practices, but to protect homes from wildfires.

“I truly believe the homes of my ohana and all of us who have lost would still be there if there was responsible management of our water resources,” Liko Rogers told the panel.

The sugar plantations were diverting water from streams for many years, he said, but at least their sugar cane fields buffered Lahaina from wildfires.

Now the water is largely controlled by developers who are failing to manage their lands while building luxury homes that benefit few in Lahaina.

“Enough already,” Rogers said. “We in Lahaina can no longer sit back and allow the government to control our narrative. We have lost so much and have been hurting for far too long in Lahaina. We want our streams restored.”

Tiare Lawrence said the ongoing struggle over water management in West Maui is well documented.

“In light of the devastation we are currently dealing with, we are now presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make right the historical wrongdoing on our people by Pioneer Mill, the tourism industry and governing entities.

“There’s hope among many people in this room that the ecosystem and kanaka can flourish together once more,” she said.

The nine-hour meeting featured dozens of testifiers, many of them from West Maui and including 40 students and staff from Lahaina’s Kula Kaiapuni Hawaiian immersion program.

CWRM Chair Dawn Chang said her staff tried to arrange the meeting at the Lahaina Civic Center but was unable to, so it was held in Wailuku at the J. Cameron Center instead.

“It was important for us to be here today,” Chang said.

During the meeting, the commission’s staff made recommendations for protecting and reviving Lahaina wells and shafts that were damaged by the wind-driven inferno that killed at least 99 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings Aug. 8.

As the meeting started, the audience applauded heartily when First Deputy Kaleo Manuel was introduced. It was his first meeting with the commission since being reinstated to his job as CWRM’s top staffer.

Many speakers urged the commission to rebuild public trust by providing an explanation for the reassignment and an apology to Manuel, who has been praised by many for helping to restore public-­trust equity in the distribution of water resources.

No apology or explanation was given. Chang earlier said only that state Attorney General Anne Lopez had requested that Manuel be transferred to another Department of Land and Natural Resources Division until an investigation of “certain personnel events” related to the Aug. 8 wildfires was completed.

Manuel had been thrust into the news after a developer accused him of delaying a request to fill a reservoir during the fire — although it was later determined that the action was unlikely to have contributed to the firefight.

The transfer of Manuel, a Native Hawaiian, angered many in the community, and it shined a spotlight on West Maui’s water conflicts.

Last summer the Water Commission designated the entire Lahaina Aquifer region as both a surface water and groundwater management area. The deadline for applications for water access was Aug. 7, the day before the Lahaina fire.

Designation, according to DLNR, gives the commission the tools needed to identify uses, evaluate impacts and waste, address public-trust priorities, balance needs and plan for drought conditions.

At Tuesday’s meeting the staff reported that 116 water permit applications had been received from West Maui.

In West Maui, private companies control 75% of the stream water, while Maui County oversees only 25%.

Many testifies asked the commission to prioritize the kamaaina working class, kalo farmers and land conservation over resorts and private purveyors.

Katie Austin of Lahaina said she came to Wailuku on Tuesday because she’s listened to community leaders fight for years for the same thing: the restoration of streams.

“I don’t understand how private entities have control over our water. It does not make any sense, and it shouldn’t happen. No one private entity should have control over our water — period — and you guys really need to take that into consideration. It is absolutely ridiculous,” Austin said.

Many speakers described how Lahaina used to be lush and verdant and home to lots of wetlands. They urged the restoration of the freshwater pond called Mokuhi­nia and its 1-acre island of Mokuula, the location of sacred chiefs going back to the 16th century and a royal residence of Kamehameha royalty in the 19th century.

The pond was filled in in the early 1900s, and the island was destroyed and turned into a park.