Concrete is a porous material by nature . When you pour and the foundation settles you have joints ( deformation and expansion joints ) that are unavoidable . How do we get perfectly dry basements, tunnels and culverts? The most engineered solution is the Rubber Waterstop shown to the right side of image.
These waterstops are directly embedded into the concrete joints, exploiting the high elasticity and the compressive deformation capacity of rubber. The central bulb and multiple ribs stretch and flex accordingly as the concrete segments move due to thermal expansion or foundation settlement. This structural flexibility allows for a tight and continuous seal with the concrete providing an impenetrable physical barrier that fully blocks the groundwater seepage pathways in mega-infrastructure, subways and high-rise foundations.