Wave and energy

I think you are referring to water ripples (which is different from sea waves that occurs in an ocean),

Ripples are viscocity waves. Water surface behaves like an elastic skin. The water molecules on this [skin] are holding each other by intermolecular forces. When these molecules are set into vibration, they would transmit the vibrational force, and hence the kinetic energy they carry, to other molecules on the [skin]. This is how water ripples propagate.