A pilot-scale study to select new media was conducted to upgrade the filters at the Rossdale Water Treatment Plant in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in order to meet a new more stringent regulation which existing filters would have difficulty achieving. Performance of crushed quartz mono-media, anthracite/rounded sand dual-media, and the existing filter sand was assessed in terms of the new regulations and in-plant objectives by in-depth investigation of factors such as filtration rate, filter run length, resistance to hydraulic transients, polymer addition and filter ripening sequence. Half-normal plots of factorial designed experiments were used to study significant effects on filter performance. In terms of turbidity removal at the filtration rates used, crushed quartz performed the best overall. This may be related to the angular nature of the material. However, this physical characteristic may change due to abrasion during backwash, resulting in poorer performance. To assess this, abrasion resistance test...