Need a picture or diagram Jerry to understand what you're asking. You talk about a water pump, but then ask if you can route the belt around just the crank and the alternator. How's the water pump being driven? If it's a standard HO reverse rotation pump (like came with all the serpentine belt cars) then the grooved part of the belt needs to sit on the crank pulley and the BACK (flat part) of the belt needs to wrap around the water pump pulley. If you have it routed that way, have enough tension on the belt, and have enough contact area between the belt and the pulleys, it should work. But without a picture it's hard to provide any more guidance.