I was making a chicken farm, and using eggs to make baby chickens. When the baby chickens were in water, they would walk around in the water, and eventually die from drowning, as if the water wouldn't affect their physics. You can recreate this by spawning baby animals (might be specifically chicken) in water.
This sounds like a lame workaround to a bug to me. If I don't hold space then I still get pushed by water.