diff --git a/swh/storage/cassandra/cql.py b/swh/storage/cassandra/cql.py
--- a/swh/storage/cassandra/cql.py
+++ b/swh/storage/cassandra/cql.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     Union,
 )
 
-from cassandra import CoordinationFailure
+from cassandra import ConsistencyLevel, CoordinationFailure
 from cassandra.cluster import EXEC_PROFILE_DEFAULT, Cluster, ExecutionProfile, ResultSet
 from cassandra.policies import DCAwareRoundRobinPolicy, TokenAwarePolicy
 from cassandra.query import BoundStatement, PreparedStatement, dict_factory
@@ -77,12 +77,23 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-_execution_profiles = {
-    EXEC_PROFILE_DEFAULT: ExecutionProfile(
-        load_balancing_policy=TokenAwarePolicy(DCAwareRoundRobinPolicy()),
-        row_factory=dict_factory,
-    ),
-}
+def get_execution_profiles(
+    consistency_level: str = "ONE",
+) -> Dict[object, ExecutionProfile]:
+    if consistency_level not in ConsistencyLevel.name_to_value:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "Configuration error: Unknown consistency level '%s'" % consistency_level
+        )
+
+    return {
+        EXEC_PROFILE_DEFAULT: ExecutionProfile(
+            load_balancing_policy=TokenAwarePolicy(DCAwareRoundRobinPolicy()),
+            row_factory=dict_factory,
+            consistency_level=ConsistencyLevel.name_to_value[consistency_level],
+        )
+    }
+
+
 # Configuration for cassandra-driver's access to servers:
 # * hit the right server directly when sending a query (TokenAwarePolicy),
 # * if there's more than one, then pick one at random that's in the same
@@ -92,7 +103,7 @@
 def create_keyspace(
     hosts: List[str], keyspace: str, port: int = 9042, *, durable_writes=True
 ):
-    cluster = Cluster(hosts, port=port, execution_profiles=_execution_profiles)
+    cluster = Cluster(hosts, port=port, execution_profiles=get_execution_profiles())
     session = cluster.connect()
     extra_params = ""
     if not durable_writes:
@@ -223,9 +234,13 @@
     """Class managing prepared statements and building queries to be sent
     to Cassandra."""
 
-    def __init__(self, hosts: List[str], keyspace: str, port: int):
+    def __init__(
+        self, hosts: List[str], keyspace: str, port: int, consistency_level: str
+    ):
         self._cluster = Cluster(
-            hosts, port=port, execution_profiles=_execution_profiles
+            hosts,
+            port=port,
+            execution_profiles=get_execution_profiles(consistency_level),
         )
         self._session = self._cluster.connect(keyspace)
         self._cluster.register_user_type(
diff --git a/swh/storage/cassandra/storage.py b/swh/storage/cassandra/storage.py
--- a/swh/storage/cassandra/storage.py
+++ b/swh/storage/cassandra/storage.py
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@
         port=9042,
         journal_writer=None,
         allow_overwrite=False,
+        consistency_level="ONE",
     ):
         """
         A backend of swh-storage backed by Cassandra
@@ -118,10 +119,12 @@
                 or when the database is known to be mostly empty.
                 Note that a ``False`` value does not guarantee there won't be
                 any overwrite.
+            consistency_level: The default read/write consistency to use
         """
         self._hosts = hosts
         self._keyspace = keyspace
         self._port = port
+        self._consistency_level = consistency_level
         self._set_cql_runner()
         self.journal_writer: JournalWriter = JournalWriter(journal_writer)
         self.objstorage: ObjStorage = ObjStorage(objstorage)
@@ -129,7 +132,9 @@
 
     def _set_cql_runner(self):
         """Used by tests when they need to reset the CqlRunner"""
-        self._cql_runner: CqlRunner = CqlRunner(self._hosts, self._keyspace, self._port)
+        self._cql_runner: CqlRunner = CqlRunner(
+            self._hosts, self._keyspace, self._port, self._consistency_level
+        )
 
     def check_config(self, *, check_write: bool) -> bool:
         self._cql_runner.check_read()
diff --git a/swh/storage/tests/test_cassandra.py b/swh/storage/tests/test_cassandra.py
--- a/swh/storage/tests/test_cassandra.py
+++ b/swh/storage/tests/test_cassandra.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
 import attr
+from cassandra.cluster import NoHostAvailable
 import pytest
 
 from swh.core.api.classes import stream_results
@@ -237,6 +238,30 @@
 
 @pytest.mark.cassandra
 class TestCassandraStorage(_TestStorage):
+    def test_config_wrong_consistency_should_raise(self):
+        storage_config = dict(
+            cls="cassandra",
+            hosts=["first"],
+            port=9999,
+            keyspace="any",
+            consistency_level="fake",
+            journal_writer={"cls": "memory"},
+            objstorage={"cls": "memory"},
+        )
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            get_storage(**storage_config)
+
+    def test_config_consistency_used(self, swh_storage_backend_config):
+        config_with_consistency = dict(
+            swh_storage_backend_config, **{"consistency_level": "ONE"}
+        )
+
+        storage = get_storage(**config_with_consistency)
+
+        with pytest.raises(NoHostAvailable):
+            storage.content_get_random()
+
     def test_content_add_murmur3_collision(self, swh_storage, mocker, sample_data):
         """The Murmur3 token is used as link from index tables to the main
         table; and non-matching contents with colliding murmur3-hash