Before the 1.14.4 update, sponge would clear water in a 5x5x5 area and if it wasn't place in water (running or source) it would remain dry. But now you have to place the sponge in the water to clear water, then it turns into wet sponge and doesnt retain any of the water so it refills all of the water right away, making sponge completely useless. I have some pictures of how i was clearing water before the update and then how it has to be done now. 

the lines of sponge towards the back of the photo are all dry, they were placed before the update. The sponges towards the foreground of the picture are half and half and only are like that because I had used an auto-clicker to place it as i was flying. It affects every version of minecraft all the way back to 1.8 (which was as far as i tested). Can this be reverted please?