The water users' previous consents expired in May and 42 have so far been renewed, with conditions including the ability to review the consents if new water flow restrictions proposed under Plan Change 6 are approved when the board of inquiry delivers its decision.
At the hearing yesterday, Mr Hudspith asked Rob Waldron, a surface water quantity scientist with the council, whether it was possible that, if overall water availability was reduced for the consent holders, legal challenges could carry on until about 2017.
He said that could mean "submitting parties such as my client will have to face uncertainty as to their allocation for the next three or four years until that process runs its course".
The aim of the Ruataniwha water storage scheme proposal is to make more water available to farmers and horticulturists in the area, but through an irrigation system rather than by taking it directly from the catchment.
Mr Waldron said he was not sure how long it would take to resolve matters if water rationing among consent holders became necessary.
A report prepared by regional council staff, and presented to the council's environment and services committee yesterday, said the new consents generally provided applicants with the same rate and volume of water that they had been previously allocated.
"As Plan Change 6 has been notified, its policies and objectives are required to be considered, and weight attributed to them as appropriate," the report said.
"A balance has been sought over the need to give clear direction to consent holders over the water management direction contained in Plan Change 6, while recognising that a decision on the plan change has not been made."
Renewals of the four consents that were still outstanding were expected to be issued soon, "after some technical details relating to these applications are confirmed," the report said.
A new condition being imposed on consent holders is that telemetry equipment must be installed by July next year to monitor the amount of water being taken.
Mr Apple, which employs up to 1500 people at peak times and pays $30 million a year in wages, said in its written submission that it believed Plan Change 6 should not lead to an "inappropriate" reduction in the amount of water it could use.
"If the scheme will provide a more reliable source of water for primary producers then, to that extent, it is generally supported by Mr Apple," the company said.
"However, its cost structure and long-term ownership needs to be transparent and understood. Plan Change 6 seems designed to 'drive' existing water users into the [proposed Ruataniwha irrigation] scheme."
