Lung problems can develop 12 or more hours after submersion.
Both statistically and experimentally we find that a damp soil favours its life and development, while prolonged submersion and drought kill it.
Even if we allow for the difficulty of representing complete submersion in art, it is nevertheless clear that it was not insisted on; nor were the earliest fonts, to judge from the ruins of them, large and deep enough for such an usage.
Near-drowning is the term for survival after suffocation caused by submersion in water or other fluid.
Within three minutes of submersion, most people are unconscious, and within five minutes the brain begins to suffer from lack of oxygen.