In this work we demonstrate the electroplating of columnar lithium morphologies obtained directly with water-as-additive. We achieve these columnar layers using both non-hydrolysing LiTFSI, and fluorine-free LiClO4 electrolytes, unambiguously proving that a LiF-rich SEI cannot be considered as the determining factor for this growth mode. We investigate the role of the formation step (i.e. electrochemical reactions occurring at potentials above the lithium deposition potential), an alternative hypothesis from literature, using ex-situ Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in a glovebox environment and electrochemical experiments. We find that such a formation layer does not account for our experimental results, but the water rather has a continuous role during the growth. We demonstrate that the process of columnar growth can be controlled by balancing the concentration of added water to the deposition rate. Finally, we use a rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) to study the growth process in-situ and find that hydrogen is continuously evolved during Li growth. Considering that a mechanism which is independent of the anion is required based on our results (as both LiTFSI and LiClO4 give similar results), we therefore suggest that the continuous presence of hydrogen is the determining factor in obtaining the columnar lithium morphology. As hydrogen is also reported as a product in the electrocatalytic formation of LiF in electrolytes containing HF, such an explanation homogenizes our results with existing literature and provides mechanistic insights for the design and control of lithium metal morphologies.