Bob Plates v0.13.2, data.lua, lines 79-82 states:

if bobmods.plates.EnableGroundWater == false then
bobmods.ores.water.enabled = true
bobmods.ores.lithia_water.enabled = true
end

..isn't this backwards? Especially considering bobconfig states:

-- If set to true, this will turn on the old recipes to get water and lithia water from nothing on the water pumps.
bobmods.config.plates.EnableGroundWater = false

The EnableGoundWater tag is referring to the ground water recipes. if you look at what it is enabling when it is false, it is the ore, aka, minable ground patches similar to oil.

In other words: if we don't have the recipes, turn on the minable patches instead.

The actual check to turn on the recipes is in the file that defines the recipes.