Water can move through materials at different speeds depending on the mode of movement and the material properties. Two main ways water moves through materials are:

1. Capillary Action: This is a faster process where water moves through narrow tubes or pores in a material due to surface tension and adhesion. Water can even move upward against gravity through small pores. The speed depends on pore size—the narrower the pore, the faster water rises until balanced by gravity.
2. Moisture Diffusion: A slower process, it involves the movement of water vapor molecules through the material affected by moisture gradients and vapor pressure differences. This process is essential for removing bound water in materials.

The speed of water also depends on material properties like porosity, permeability, and sorptivity. Sorptivity relates to how quickly water is absorbed by a material and varies between materials such as concrete, plaster, or brick. For soils, water flow speed is measured by permeability, with water moving faster through more permeable materials like gravel compared to clay. In engineered flow through pipes, physical limits like the speed of sound in the fluid apply. The maximum speed of liquid flow in narrow channels is limited by factors such as pressure, pipe material, and friction. Typically, practical velocities in pipes range from a few feet per second, influenced heavily by the pipe and fluid characteristics. In summary, water movement speed varies widely depending on the mechanism—capillary action or diffusion—and material properties such as pore size, permeability, and sorptivity, with practical flow speeds in pipes limited by physical constraints like pressure and friction.