First of all, Happy New Year's to everyone!
I've been fortunate, in that I've never had water get under the surface of the lead. I first cast bullets as a teenager, back in the 70s. My dad gave me his old pot, molds and about 30# of lead a couple of years ago, and I got everything working again (it hadn't been used since I last cast in 1976).
I've been water quenching my bullets, but I use a 3# coffee can about half full of water, which sits about a foot off the floor, well below the level of the workbench. I float a piece of plywood on the top of the water and drop my bullets from the mold onto the plywood, and let them roll off into the water, so there is no splash. An alternative method I read about elsewhere was to stretch a towel loosely over the quench bucket with a 1-2" hole cut in the center. Drop the bullets on the towel and they roll down and drop through the hole into the water, and the towel catches any resulting splashes.
I have an electric skillet I bought from a thrift store specifically for casting and reloading. Initially for wax lubing, but I've found that it works well for dumping my quenched bullets into when I'm done casting after I've drained the water from the can. Dump all the bullets, good, rejects, sprue, whatever that was in the water, into the skillet and turn it on simmer for half an hour or so with the lid off. Then let them air cool. Sort the duds for remelting and save the good ones.
Also, and I guess I just lucked into this one, I always preheat any 1# ingots I'm going to add to the pot by setting them on the top for a while first. I was just preheating them to make them melt faster without dropping the pot temp. I never realized I was drying out any incidental condensation at the same time.