It could be an engine limitation, but in the techdemo the water stayed on the ground for quite a while. I remember looking at the big boy with the flashlights and the water was falling onto him, dispersing on the floor, and it stayed there for a reasonable amount of time. This makes me think that the water lifetime can be changed.
I've found some code that may be related to this in the "init.cfg" file.
Code:
g.broken_icicles_count = 64;
g.characters= 1
g.recordfps = 32
g.gforce = 24.0
g.gforce_water_loss = 0.3
g.benchmark = 0
What gets me is the "gforce_water_loss" setting.
Also these settings catch my eye.
Code:
p.maxfluidwater = 20000
p.maxfluidsparks = 10000
p.maxfluidsparksblue = 10000
p.maxfluidicicles = 5000
p.maxfluidbulletshells = 5000