Submissions have come from all over New Zealand and there was also a smattering from overseas, including the United Kingdom, Indonesia, South Korea, Canada, Singapore, Australia and Sweden.
The proposals from three companies - Five Rivers Ltd, Southdown Holdings Ltd and Williamson Holdings Ltd - involve establishing 16 new dairy farms in the area, with up to 17,850 cows housed in cubicle stalls.
Submissions close on Friday for the Five Rivers and Southdown applications and on January 18 for Williamson Holdings.
More than 6000 submissions were received on resource consent applications lodged by Meridian Energy Ltd for its proposed Project Aqua power scheme in the lower Waitaki Valley, while the controversial Kate Valley landfill site, in North Canterbury, attracted 3587.
Representatives from ECan outlined the resource consents process at a public meeting in Twizel on Monday night.
When contacted yesterday, one of the organisers of the meeting said he did not believe those behind the proposals could have added much more to the debate if they had attended.
Concerns were expressed at the meeting that it was a one-sided debate and there was no representation from the three companies.
Last week, meeting organisers said representatives from the companies were welcome to attend.
At that time, Richard Peacocke, a director of two of the companies, said he did not want to comment on the meeting or whether the companies would be represented.
Twizel resident Scott Aronsen said the companies' proposals were outlined in their applications for consent.
"They've probably got nothing further to add to what they've already put in. They probably wouldn't have a lot more to say about it anyway," he said.
Mr Aronsen said it was now over to the due process.
Asked whether anything else was planned, he said he "wouldn't like to say yes or no".
He would be talking to Graham Stewart, another organiser of the meeting, to see what feedback there was.
He was pleased with the "good, broad spectrum" of those attending, which included residents from Omarama and Twizel, along with high country farmers.
Mr Aronsen believed the "general consensus of opinion" was that it was not appropriate to have more dairy farms in the district.
Many people were not prepared to "stick their head above the water line" and say that, but "I am", he said.
More dairy farms would jeopardise tourism in the district, he said.
