It may be that they help her see the surface of the water.  I found
that putting the bowl where there is a bright reflection off the
surface, and there is some vibration, pretty well brought a stop to
water bowl issues with my cats.

Both of my cats do the same thing.  They completely go against the saying
that cats hate water.  Wherever there is water, they are in it, but
especially their water bowl.  My little one will literally stick his paw in
the bowl and overturn the whole thing.  What he also does though is he dumps
out all of his dry food onto the floor and then plays in it, i.e. chasing
bits of the food everywhere.  Needless to say, everyday when I get home from
work, my entire kitchen floor is completely covered in cat food.  I have even
tried putting his food bowl in a big cardboard box that a case of soda comes
in, but he then knocks the food out of the bowl, into the box and then stands
outside of the box and drags the food from the box out onto the floor.  Would
drive many people nuts, but I cannot help laughing.  Did I mention that his
name is Trouble :)