Kalawe Bridge Site Visit for Future Water Level Monitoring (May 22, 2016)

The site visit at Kalawe Bridge was participated by UTokyo members (Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki and Dr. Ralph Allen Acierto), YTU members (Dr. Win Win Zin and Ms. Su Wai Thin), and DWIR (Mr. Aung Kyaw Hmuu, Yangon Region Director and two other assistants). The visit was proposed to check the site condition at Kalawe Bridge and to discuss potential location of the installation of instrument. Water level monitoring was proposed on this site for the acquisition of water level data for flood modeling purposes and for the establishment of a telemetry system in Bago River basin. There will be two water level instruments that will be used for this site - floating-type water level gauge and a radar-type water level instrument. The installation of two instrument types seek to compare the performance of using advanced radar-type against the floating-type. The project also aims to showcase the usage of the advanced radar-type water level monitoring if found successful. The usage of floating-type water level will be used as base comparison with the measurements from the radar-type in addition to possible manual water level monitoring.

Figure 1. Location of Kalawe Bridge at the downstream part of Bago River basin( left image, source: GoogleMap, accessed on 31May2016) and discussion on site conditions for water level monitoring between UTokyo, YTU, and DWIR (right image)

The potential site for installation was identified as pier 5 and pier 8 of the Kalawe Bridge as shown in Figure 3. Pier 5 was proposed due to easier and closer access from the river bank while the Pier 8 was proposed due to less sedimentation problem as it is located almost near the middle of the river width. Each of the proposed area is currently considered and will be discussed further.

Figure 2. Discussion of potential location of the water level monitoring observation at the site 

In addition to the planned water level monitoring on the site,  a site in Figure 3 (encircled by a red rectangle) was also selected for potential location of additional camera observation for velocity measurements and tidal effects investigation as shown.

Figure 3. Potential site for video monitoring of tidal effects (left image) downstream of Bago River and location’s vantage point of the bridge with annotation of the potential location of the instrument (right image)

After the site visit at the Kalawe Bridge, a succeeding meeting with the DWIR counterparts was done in the DWIR office in Yangon as shown in Figure 4. The meeting was primarily attended by Mr. Aung Kyaw Hmuu (Yangon Region Director, DWIR), Mr. Aung Myo Khaing (Component 3 Director, AIRBM Project DWIR), Mr. Ko Ko Oo (Deputy Director General, DWIR), two other DWIR staff officers, Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki, Dr. Ralph Allen Acierto, Dr. Win Win Zin (YTU), and Ms. Su Wai Thin (YTU student). Director General U Htun Lwin Oo of DWIR briefly joined the meeting but he had to leave for another meeting. Initially, the planned meeting with Director General of DWIR was scheduled for next day (23 May 2016). The UTokyo group explained the planned installation of the instrument and the characteristics of the instruments to be installed. Issues related to the installation and maintenance of the installed observation were discussed. DWIR counterparts had indicated support for the planned installation and maintenance. The group concluded the meeting with the necessary procedures and summary of concerns for the future installation in the next dry season.

Figure 4. Coordination Meeting with DWIR Officers