Water



Water is a fluid that can only be placed by the player when using a bucket. On newly-generated maps, water is common at ocean level in the form of lakes. It also appears in pools, (and in Indev, Infdev, and Alpha, springs) underground and lakes above ground.

In Creative mode, Water spreads horizontally and downwards by duplicating itself to empty squares. Water spreads faster than the speed of a walking player, and if left alone covers everything at or below the level the water started at if there is a direct connection. Water is transparent and slows down the player if it is moving through it. Water cannot spread within a five-by-five area of Sponge (two blocks on each side and diagonally, with the sponge at its center); this enables it to be cleaned up quickly using sponges.

In Survival mode, Water is much deeper and the player starts to drown after your 15-second air gauge is eliminated. Water is not completely solid, therefore falling from any height into water deeper than the height of one block will not hurt you.

In Indev, Infdev, or Alpha mode, Water spreads across surfaces in a slightly more realistic way but cannot spread on top of another Water block. This allows the creation of waterfalls in these modes. The player can pick up Water blocks from sources such as an ocean or a lake by use of a Bucket. When placed again, the Water creates a spring which generates flowing or falling water. When a spring is destroyed, all flowing water created from will slow dry up. Springs of Lava and Water also randomly appear in caverns and cliffs. Water will travel a distance of 7 tiles with the counter resetting every time it lands on a lower level. Falling water does not spread until it lands on another block that is raised above ground. If it lands in a hole, it cannot spread outward onto the surface. Also, if there is a hole six or less blocks away, the water will tend to flow in that direction.

Though it cannot be placed by the player in single-player Creative, it could briefly be placed in Survival by detonating a Creeper in water and collecting 'water blocks'. It can be placed in Infdev and Alpha mode by using a bucket. There was also a Water-generating block in Indev mode, but has since been removed in newly-generated maps. However, they can still be placed in a map editor such as Omen.

The texture for water was changed in the 0.0.19a client update on June 20, 2009 and is now animated on the fly.

Management
Water tends to be harder to deal with on non-creative modes. The easiest solution on Indev is to block the waters entrance and slowly drain the room, although you can prevent the rooms from flooding entirely by using Airlocks.

In Infdev, the easiest solution is to block the waters entrance and slowly drain the room, or if the water is made from a spring the easiest solution is to destroy the spring.

Placing a block in the same space as water will replace the water. Entire lakes can be infilled this way. Some Decorations, Ladders and Reeds will also displace water.

Using a redstone wire, a one-block water flow can be redirected by supplying power to the source block, which will cause it to reset the flow towards the now-nearest terrain depression. This is further elaborated in this thread. It however cannot be reversed.

This re-calculation is made because redstone wire when toggled changes the block from redstone(on), to redstone(off). whenever a block updates on any side of water, the water re-calculates where to flow, but does not cut off it's current direction of flow.

Springs
In Infdev mode, springs can consist of either Water or Lava. Springs are randomly generated in caverns underground and sometimes above ground. Springs can also be placed by the player by picking up Water from the ocean by use of a bucket and then placing the Water again. A spring will generate Water which cannot flood a room because Water cannot spread on the top of another Water block. If a spring is removed, all Water that was created from it will also be removed, which makes it hard for things to be ruined by springs.

Infinite Spring Duplication
In Infdev and Alpha, Water springs can be duplicated using any basin of at least three empty spaces, as long as the bottom is not Water, Glass, or Ice. Placing a Water spring at two sides of an empty space will create a water spring in the empty space. Also, removing the water from the middle of the basin will allow adjacent water springs to generate a new spring. (This does not work with lava.)

This can also be done in a 2x2x1 pit with two buckets of water dumped in opposite corners. Using this method, it doesn't matter where you take the water from. It will replenish itself regardless, even if one of the original source blocks of water is scooped up.

Water Elevators
Water can be used as a simple way of quick upward movement.

In Classic, water can be held into a column by Sponge. This can be used to make pillars of water, which can be used as elevators.

In Infdev/Alpha, "stand" halfway off a falling/floating water tile to prevent damage from drowning, it is possible to move while midair or in water. Height might need to be adjusted if using a boat to climb a water elevator. A Boat placed under falling water will also move extremely quickly up, which can be used as a one-time trip.