The Otago Water Resource Users Group and its Manuherikia subcommittee spoke about its concerns at a council committee meeting yesterday.
Former council chief executive Graeme Martin said he was ''deeply troubled'' about the ''murky, incomplete'' process by the regional council.
He was invited in mid-July to assist the subcommittee and was provided with background information, he said.
The group had questions for the regional council, such as why potential minimum flows had been suggested without all science work being completed.
These were not properly answered, he said.
The presentation at the forum yesterday was a ''poor substitute'' for the meeting it requested and risked embedding a ''them and us'' syndrome, he said.
Central Otago farmer Andrew Paterson said the river was well maintained through the current system.
Amateur fishermen told the group trout were abundant in the river, he said.
Cr Graeme Bell said he had never seen anything brought to the council suggesting the river was over-allocated.
Cr Michael Laws said a values assessment conducted last year in relation to the river was ''bollocks''.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said he understood it was a ''difficult conversation''.
''Crunch time is coming from a legal perspective ... we need to precede with haste while insuring we have a robust and open process.''
Cr Bryan Scott said the council needed to be careful in that the speakers did not necessarily reflect all Central Otago residents in their concerns about the process.
Council chief executive Sarah Gardner said she committed to let people share data they had about the river which could inform the process.
''That's absolutely the intent.''
The council moved to ask Ms Gardner to organise an appropriate facilitator between the council and community regarding minimum flows.
