diff --git a/adam-core/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContext.scala b/adam-core/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContext.scala
index 47f0006c30..533847524c 100644
--- a/adam-core/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContext.scala
+++ b/adam-core/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContext.scala
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.SparkContext
 import org.apache.spark.rdd.MetricsContext._
 import org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD
 import org.apache.spark.sql.{ Dataset, SparkSession, SQLContext }
+import org.apache.spark.storage.StorageLevel
 import org.bdgenomics.adam.converters._
 import org.bdgenomics.adam.instrumentation.Timers._
 import org.bdgenomics.adam.io._
@@ -2018,6 +2019,9 @@ class ADAMContext(@transient val sc: SparkContext) extends Serializable with Log
    *   Globs/directories are supported.
    * @param optRecordGroup The optional record group name to associate to the unaligned alignment
    *   records. Defaults to None.
+   * @param persistLevel An optional persistance level to set. If this level is
+   *   set, then reads will be cached (at the given persistance) level as part of
+   *   validation. Defaults to StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY.
    * @param stringency The validation stringency to use when validating paired FASTQ format.
    *   Defaults to ValidationStringency.STRICT.
    * @return Returns an unaligned AlignmentRecordRDD.
@@ -2026,6 +2030,7 @@ class ADAMContext(@transient val sc: SparkContext) extends Serializable with Log
     pathName1: String,
     pathName2: String,
     optRecordGroup: Option[String] = None,
+    persistLevel: Option[StorageLevel] = Some(StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY),
     stringency: ValidationStringency = ValidationStringency.STRICT): AlignmentRecordRDD = LoadPairedFastq.time {
 
     val reads1 = loadUnpairedFastq(
@@ -2043,8 +2048,8 @@ class ADAMContext(@transient val sc: SparkContext) extends Serializable with Log
 
     stringency match {
       case ValidationStringency.STRICT | ValidationStringency.LENIENT =>
-        val count1 = reads1.rdd.cache.count
-        val count2 = reads2.rdd.cache.count
+        val count1 = persistLevel.fold(reads1.rdd.count)(reads1.rdd.persist(_).count)
+        val count2 = persistLevel.fold(reads2.rdd.count)(reads2.rdd.persist(_).count)
 
         if (count1 != count2) {
           val msg = s"Fastq 1 ($pathName1) has $count1 reads, fastq 2 ($pathName2) has $count2 reads"
@@ -2568,6 +2573,9 @@ class ADAMContext(@transient val sc: SparkContext) extends Serializable with Log
    *   Globs/directories are supported.
    * @param optRecordGroup The optional record group name to associate to the unaligned alignment
    *   records. Defaults to None.
+   * @param persistLevel An optional persistance level to set. If this level is
+   *   set, then reads will be cached (at the given persistance) level as part of
+   *   validation. Defaults to StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY.
    * @param stringency The validation stringency to use when validating paired FASTQ format.
    *   Defaults to ValidationStringency.STRICT.
    * @return Returns a FragmentRDD containing the paired reads grouped by
@@ -2577,9 +2585,10 @@ class ADAMContext(@transient val sc: SparkContext) extends Serializable with Log
     pathName1: String,
     pathName2: String,
     optRecordGroup: Option[String] = None,
+    persistLevel: Option[StorageLevel] = Some(StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY),
     stringency: ValidationStringency = ValidationStringency.STRICT): FragmentRDD = LoadPairedFastqFragments.time {
 
-    loadPairedFastq(pathName1, pathName2, optRecordGroup, stringency).toFragments()
+    loadPairedFastq(pathName1, pathName2, optRecordGroup, persistLevel, stringency).toFragments()
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/adam-core/src/test/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContextSuite.scala b/adam-core/src/test/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContextSuite.scala
index 051545c27b..257a2b6cbf 100644
--- a/adam-core/src/test/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContextSuite.scala
+++ b/adam-core/src/test/scala/org/bdgenomics/adam/rdd/ADAMContextSuite.scala
@@ -639,6 +639,20 @@ class ADAMContextSuite extends ADAMFunSuite {
     assert(reads.rdd.count === 6)
   }
 
+  sparkTest("load paired fastq") {
+    val pathR1 = testFile("proper_pairs_1.fq")
+    val pathR2 = testFile("proper_pairs_2.fq")
+    val reads = sc.loadPairedFastq(pathR1, pathR2)
+    assert(reads.rdd.count === 6)
+  }
+
+  sparkTest("load paired fastq without cache") {
+    val pathR1 = testFile("proper_pairs_1.fq")
+    val pathR2 = testFile("proper_pairs_2.fq")
+    val reads = sc.loadPairedFastq(pathR1, pathR2, persistLevel = None)
+    assert(reads.rdd.count === 6)
+  }
+
   sparkTest("load paired fastq as fragments") {
     val pathR1 = testFile("proper_pairs_1.fq")
     val pathR2 = testFile("proper_pairs_2.fq")
@@ -646,6 +660,13 @@ class ADAMContextSuite extends ADAMFunSuite {
     assert(fragments.rdd.count === 3)
   }
 
+  sparkTest("load paired fastq as fragments without cache") {
+    val pathR1 = testFile("proper_pairs_1.fq")
+    val pathR2 = testFile("proper_pairs_2.fq")
+    val fragments = sc.loadPairedFastqAsFragments(pathR1, pathR2, persistLevel = None)
+    assert(fragments.rdd.count === 3)
+  }
+
   sparkTest("load HTSJDK sequence dictionary") {
     val path = testFile("hs37d5.dict")
     val sequences = sc.loadSequenceDictionary(path)