Yes, plants do very well with empty water

Consider rain...

Providing, of course, there are nutrients in the soil for which the water can take in and feed to the roots. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. When it rains the soil softens and water that is empty can pull in the soil's minerals, thus the roots can drink it up!

Empty water will pull minerals from whatever it touches, which is one of the reasons I don't believe it should be consumed by humans.

There is a lot of research in this area, consider soft drink studies and the dumping of minerals found in urine after consuming soft drinks. Tweet