the.com/seepage
Water's commitment to going wherever it wants, slowly and without your permission.
means The gradual leaking of liquid or gas through a porous barrier, drop by patient drop.
from From seep, an old English dialect word likely tied to the verb sipe, meaning to ooze or trickle; the -age makes it a process.
Patient erosionSlow seepage carved entire cave systems over millennia.
Dam fearEngineers monitor seepage as an early sign of failure.
Not a floodDefined by slowness, not volume, unlike a gush.