Canterbury Regional Council Commissioners have finished a plan for managing natural resources in the province.
Last year, the Government replaced the elected councillors with commissioners, after a review found a gap in how the council managed freshwater issues.
Environment Minister Nick Smith says the absence of such a plan for the past 20 years meant important resource decisions in Canterbury were being made in a vacuum.
Dr Smith says the plan is not perfect and will need refining, but it is better than nothing.
The plan comes into effect on 11 June. Commissioner Peter Skelton says it is able to be changed.
He says the plan gives completes certainty of the rules, objectives and policies for the region's natural resources.
For example, under the plan Mr Skelton says the current chlorination of Christchurch's drinking water due to earthquake damage must stop when the emergency ends.
