Understanding the Sedimentation Process of the Maeinee River for Developing a Future Drainage Plan Using Mathemetical Model

Mathematical model is widely used tool for planning and design of water resources project [1]. One-dimensional morphological modeling provides a scenario of sediment transport phenomena and morphological behavior in-terms of trend in long term bed level changes. Since two- and three-dimensional model provides better results but large extent of data requirement where one-dimensional morphological model can be applied for the general understanding of river system in long run river morpho-dynamics [2]. In this study 1D morphological model is developed for Maeinee River, which is one of the major rivers that feed Kaptai Lake. And Kaptai Lake is the reservoir of Karnafuli Hydroelectric Power station (230 MW). The model is calibrated with observed suspended sediment concentration by IWM. The key finding of the study is that the Maeinee River system shows that the perfect equilibrium has not yet been obtained, rather a dynamic equilibrium has been observed. This study shows upstream reaches of Maeinee River are likely to be under erosion process whereas downstream reaches mostly under deposition process in the bed. the results should be taken as indicative rather considering its quantitative outputs. Better result could be obtained if comparison between more approach could be analyzed. Lack of adequate data is one of the main problems faced during this study. The results are useful in investigating the response of a river system to large changes in the flow regime.