Environmental Water requires OptiFine, Polytone, or Legacy4J. Old versions (1.19.0-1.20.1) also support Colormatic, but the mod has not been updated past 1.19.2.

Environmental Water changes the water color in every biome. Water in a desert no longer looks the same clean blue as a mountain stream. These colors complement the blocks and shades found elsewhere in the biome to make the landscape fit together perfectly. Some changes from this pack are more subtle than others; the blue water of a river is almost identical, but the gray-pink water around mushroom islands is a massive departure from Minecraft's original blue.

Most of the colors used by Environmental Water are ported directly from Bedrock Edition, but colors for biomes introduced after 1.16 have been custom-made. Underwater fog colors are also biome-dependent and match the surface color.

When using OptiFine, water at higher elevations blends into a different color within the same biome.