Sand filtration is a well-known filtration process employed for water treatment sector for centuries, particularly, suspended particle removal. It has numerous advantages including, low operation cost low maintenance, and high removal of suspended particles. However, the conventional sand based water filters require large footprint and hence, require the use of large land area. Therefore, such plants are not economic for smaller population groups, such as remote areas and small groups of people. Additionally, the pathogen removal efficiency of conventional sand filters are low and such systems require frequent backwashing or scrapping, providing major bottleneck in its successful implementation in small footprint settings.