Best practicable technology is a legal term used in environmental rulemaking that requires polluters to use techniques or tools to reduce their impact on the environment. It is often used interchangeably with terms such as best available technology, best practicable means, or best available control technology. The term best practicable technology came to the fore with the 1972 Clean Water Act, although its derivation dates back to British laws of the 19th century that dealt with such issues as the management of salmon fisheries.

Federal and state regulators have some discretion in defining what is meant by best practicable technology, taking into account factors such as energy consumption, total discharge, environmental impacts, and economic costs. An air flue scrubber or activated sludge wastewater treatment process that ...