Okay, ill play along :) All of the new water would be fresh water, so that would make around the same ammount of fresh water and salt water. They still wouldnt mix because of a differences in density.

Big regions of saltwater and freshwater could stay separate, ane on many places on earth they do. No need to go that far to debunk that fable.

It’s also his legitimate choice to wait. He can’t see the best way forward and is deciding to wait on his decission or let the community decide instead of him. As much as we like to think of him as autocrat in some way, he respects people that work on kernel and he respects their time. The smartest move is often to wait on a decision. And even if it’s not a smartest move in this case, it can still be better than making a wrong decission that will demoralize the community even more.