Pumping Water Kills the Bay

Question from a reader:

I have two queries regarding the claim reported in the article "Subic Bay, Soon to be a Dead Bay?" that discharging water circulated through the power plant would be akin to flushing Subic Bay with distilled water, with negative effects on marine life in the Bay:

1) Every time it rains over the Bay, the Bay is flushed with distilled water. How would this be any different?
2) The water in the Bay off the site of the power plant is 150 feet deep. How could water discharged from the power plant make any difference in this vast volume of water?


Thanks for your question, adding rainwater to the surface of the bay is has a far lesser effect than sucking millions of gallons of water out of the bay, killing everything in it and then pumping the dead water back. Additionally rainwater is not constant and nature recovers from such additions. Permanently pumping the water 24/7 through the bay has a far more significant, far more damaging effect.
If you have ever owned a swimming pool you may understand the difference in the two.