The standard protozoan method used for drinking water testing is highly variable, has low reproducibility and false positive and false negative results are common. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded a study, in January 1997, to develop and collaboratively test an alternate method for Cryptosporidium recovery from water samples. The new EPA method is titled Method 1622: Cryptosporidium in Water by Filtration/IMS/IFA and Viability by DAPI/PI. The method uses one of three filtration methods for sample concentration. In this study the filtration methods were optimized by testing different wash buffer formulations, wash volumes and washing techniques to attempt to maximize oocyst recovery.