Decisions on 112 applications to take water from the upper Waitaki catchment, mainly for irrigation, could be out in late November, more than 18 months since an Environment Canterbury panel started considering them.
A panel of commissioners started hearing the applications, some of which dated back to 2004 but were put on hold by the then Government for the preparation of the Waitaki catchment water allocation regional plan, in September 2009 and finished in May last year.
Since then applicants, which include three companies - Southdown Holdings, Williamson Holdings and Five Rivers - wanting to develop 16 dairy farms stocked by up to 17,850 cows on three properties in the Ohau and Omarama areas, have awaited a decision.
Counsel for the companies, Kelvin Reid, has pushed the panel for an indication of when decisions were expected, due to financial and emotional strain on companies and their staff.
So far, the panel of Christchurch lawyer Paul Rogers (chairman), environmental consultant Mike Bowden, of Kaiapoi, cultural authority Edward Ellison, of the Otago Peninsula, and water quality consultant Jim Cooke, of Wellington, had given no indication.
Mr Reid's latest move was to threaten a judicial review over the panel's reluctance to set a date. This prompted Mr Rogers to indicate decisions "in all likelihood" will be available in the week starting November 21.
Mr Rogers said the panel wanted to deliver decisions on all the applications at once.
Because some were more complicated than others, he did not want to indicate a date and then not be able to deliver on time.
"We thought it better that we signal we are working in a concentrated fashion and would issue decisions as soon as we possibly could, rather than nominate a date and face disappointment if that date were not met," he said.
However, it was clearly the applicants' preference to have an indication of the likely decision period. The November 21 date was the "very best and diligent estimate".
If that date was unlikely to be met, applicants would be notified.
Mr Rogers said the panel still had considerable work to do before it was able to further review evidence, decisions and consider conditions.
The panel was devoting its full time and attention to delivering a decision "in a timely fashion".
