Sure, but it's about locality/concentration - it's the difference between walking through rain without a hat, and getting a bucket of water to the face. It take

Sure, but it's about locality/concentration - it's the difference between walking through rain without a hat, and getting a bucket of water to the face. It takes time for the salinity to even out, and in the meanwhile things in the area are exposed to way too-concentrated salt. Or perhaps it's like drowning - sure, people can swim for a total period of hours a day, but they're never underwater for a continuous duration of more than a few minutes in a row.