Yeah, Water is one of the worst early game elements. Apparently it's better later on, but I think you'd need to play the full game to see most of its effectiveness. (I'm not a Patron so I still have only the demo up to Ch 2.)
I will note, Water is better than it initially seemed to me because I didn't quite understand what bubbles are for. My initial impression was that they're for extra movement that can sometimes cause matches, with the tradeoff that that they might sometimes lock if you're using Ice or Elec. The actual intent is the reverse, though: You're supposed to change them using Ice or Elec to create additional Freeze or Shock gems, with the tradeoff being random gems moving around when you might not want them to.