This session explores the three performance objectives at the heart of filter cartridge design: durability, filtration efficiency, and cleanability. Participants will examine the trade-offs among these often competing characteristics and learn how media, structural components, and cartridge architecture influence the balance among them. Topics include media composition and construction, end-cap dimensions and material hardness, nominal versus effective filtration area, and the ways these factors influence cartridge performance in the field. The session also introduces a systems approach to filter performance, demonstrating how water conditions, equipment and operating conditions, environmental factors, and maintenance practices influence real-world results. Attendees will leave with a practical way to think about cartridge performance, helping them recognize trade-offs, evaluate product claims, and make more informed decisions and recommendations.