Introduction Increasing impacts of climate change, development, and urbanization on water availability have promoted increased water reuse and recycling. The World Health Organization has identified sustainable access to improved drinking water as a significant challenge in the developing world [1]. Heavy metal pollution has pervaded many parts of the world, especially developing countries [2]. It is expected that with further development of human society, the need for fresh water will only increase. More than 90% of available fresh water resources will be consumed in the next 15 years [3, 4]. Therefore, water reuse and reclamation is inevitable in the years to come. The increasing industrialization trend throughout the globe has resulted in the generation of industrial effluents in large quantities with high organic content [5]. Industrial wastewater contains large amounts of suspended material; through the efficient separation media these suspended solids and turbidity of the wastewater can be minimized. In addition, the presence of toxic substances in wastewater can easily lead to a sludge-swelling phenomenon that may affect its treatability [6]. Access to clean drinking water is limited in developing countries and people may, therefore, consume contaminated water. Only 25.61% (rural 23.5% Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 25, No. 2 (2016), 859-864 Original Research Biosand Filter Containing Melia Biomass Treating Heavy Metals and Pathogens Beiping Zhang 1 , Lan Gao 1 , Saima Fazal 1 * Qaisar Mahmood 2 , Mehmood Laghari 1 , Azizullah Sayal 2 1 Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China 2 Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan Received: 17 September 2015 Accepted: 2 November 2015 Abstract Water contamination poses serious threats to human health and is more prevalent in developing countries. A bio sand filter (BSF) is useful technology for developing nations because of its low cost and good treatment efficiency. Being a locally available plant species, melia (Melia azedarach) biomass was used in BSF to test its efficiency for metal and pathogen removal. Different concentrations (2~6 mg/L) of iron and lead and Escherichia coli-contaminated water were passed through a control sand filter (having no plant biomass) and BSF. The results showed that all three contaminants had higher removal rates in the BSF compared to the control sand filter. The removal of E.coli reached up to 100 percent on some days in the BSF, which was not the case with the control sand filter. The percent removal of Fe and Pb in BSF was 97.9~99.9% and 31~61%, respectively. Significant turbidity removal was also observed in BSF. Melia biomass is a useful bio-resource that can help to improve water quality in BSF. Keywords: BSF, metal contamination, drinking water, water treatment, melia biomass *e-mail: saimafazal@hust.edu.cn. DOI: 10.15244/pjoes/60433