The Honolulu Advertiser - A “stream first” policy approved last week will grant taro farmers and native ecosystems in East Maui a priority share of stream water before it is diverted for agricultural and domestic use. The decision by the state Commission on Water Resource Management establishes interim instream flow standards for eight streams but will have “monumental effects across the state on how we deal with streams and water,” said chairwoman Laura H. Thielen. The approved flow standards will require East Maui Irrigation Co. (EMI) to remove or alter some of the 74 miles of tunnels, pipes, ditches and flumes that can collect and transport 450 million gallons a day from the area’s lush rain forests. EMI, a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., has been diverting water from East Maui streams for more than 100 years for sugar cane fields on central Maui’s plains. More recently, diverted stream water has been sent to Upcountry Maui residents for domestic use and to farmers in the Kula Agricultural Park. According to Thielen, the new policy means “the minimum amount of water needs to stay in the stream first. Anything above that amount would be allowed to be diverted by EMI.”