ABSTRACT
Water is at the very heart of civil engineering; houses and factories provide a dry environment, bridges and tunnels are needed to cross rivers and canals, dams provide drinking water, pipes convey water and sewage, the sea requires harbours, docks and coastal defences, while roads provide all-weather surfaces. When considering the deterioration of concrete, water is found to be a major, if not the main, cause of the problem. This statement will be studied in detail in the remainder of the paper. Perhaps with some understanding of the mechanisms involved there will be a better chance of controlling deterioration.
