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The boat was nowhere to be seen. The stake which had held it had also disappeared. Far as the eye could reach nothing was visible but water. They looked anxiously over the watery waste, and then into each other's faces.

I think here watery waste means- area covered with water

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"Watery waste" is a bit unusual, but here it emphasizes that the water was empty and useless.

This is similar to "wasteland" which means land that isn't being used for anything (and that would be hard to use).

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    +1 for flagging up the idiomatically well-established wasteland. If it hadn't been for that, the cited usage probably wouldn't have passed muster in the first place (wastewater already has a totally different meaning, anyway).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 13, 2023 at 14:18
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    @FumbleFingers And if you Google "watery waste" -- well, you get gastrointestinal symptoms.
    – Peter Flom
    Commented Jun 13, 2023 at 19:24

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