China-India border dispute: PLA troops feel the heat … of a nice warm shower

China’s military has sunk more than a dozen new wells and installed solar-powered heating systems to provide its soldiers on the Tibetan Plateau and in Xinjiang with a steady supply of hot and cold water as they remain locked in a bitter border dispute with their Indian counterparts.

In the past, the only way the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could get water to its frontline troops in the Himalayas was by hauling it in tanker trucks from nearby rivers and townships, often many kilometres away. But once the winter arrived, even that was not an option, and the troops had no choice but to ration their supplies and wait for the spring thaw.

But thanks to the creation of 13 new wells – sunk at altitudes of between 4,000 and 5,000 metres (13,000-16,000 feet) – and the installation of a network of solar panels, PLA personnel have never had it so good.

According to a report published on Thursday by PLA Daily, the military’s official newspaper, at one air force radar station 4,900 metres up a mountainside in Tibet – where the annual average temperature is minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) – troops now have access to hot running water round the clock.

The luxury of a warming shower did not come without a cost, however. The report said it took troops many months to dig the 200-metre well that now supplies their water and install the solar panels needed to heat it.

Chinese troops in Tibet seen preparing for Himalayan winter

The creation of the 13 wells in such a hostile environment was made possible thanks to a slew of new technologies, the newspaper report said.

These included geological exploration, seismic prospecting and satellite remote sensing to locate underground water sources, gas-injection submersible pumps to draw the water out, and electric heating systems to add the required warmth.

Besides the luxury of a hot shower, the main benefit of the new system is that China’s border troops now have access to a reliable source of safe drinking water.

In the past, soldiers had to rely on the water carried to them by the tankers or create their own by melting, boiling and sterilising panfuls of ice and snow.

But the recent achievements were only the tip of the iceberg, the report said.

“In the next phase, the technologies for drilling in the permafrost plateau region will be rolled out to many more positions to provide border troops with a permanent, reliable and safe water supply,” it said.