FIRST PHOTO: Kula makai resident Cody Nemet Tuivaiti calls for protecting Maui’s wetlands and watersheds Saturday while speaking in support of Charter Amendment #12, which calls for the creation of the Maui community water authorities.

SECOND PHOTO: Hui O Na Wai Eha treasurer Lani Eckart-Dodd speaks during Saturday’s Water is Life Educational Rally at University of Hawaii Maui College. Erkart-Dodd said with the end of the plantation era on Maui, it is now time to end the era of errors over how Maui’s water is managed and used. She called for stream flow to Maui’s waterways and protection of its watersheds and aquifers. She said that while state law mandates the State Water Commission to protect, control and manage Hawaii’s water for Hawaii’s people, as a practical matter, whoever controls Maui’s ditch system control the water. She called for putting the ditch system into public hands by way of a community water authority. The event was held to help build understanding and support for Charter Amendment #12.

THIRD PHOTO: Attendees listen to a speaker Saturday at University of Hawaii Maui College.