In January 2004, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Desalination and Water Purification Research and Development (DWPR) program began working in collaboration with Carollo Engineers (Carollo), the Des Moines Water Works (DMWW), Kansas Board of Public Utilities (BPU), and the Louisville Water Company (LWC) to pilot test the long-term ability of riverbank filtration (RBF) to provide a cost-effective, stand alone pretreatment for membrane desalting. As a part of this study, bank filtration was compared against microfiltration/ultrafiltration (MF/UF) and conventional technology pretreatment both in terms of membrane operational performance and economics including life cycle capital and operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses. The results show that use of bank filtration can provide life cycle savings of nearly 20% over MF/UF pretreatment. Overall recommendations are provided to help utilities evaluate this technology as a potential alternative to minimize nanofiltration/reverse osmosis (NF/RO) treatment facility costs. Includes tables, figures.