Okay, don't anyone bother to reply - I figured it out. Seems the problem was completely unrelated to water. I figured out how to lift up the carpet and discovered that when the previous owner installed the aftermarket CD changer, he installed some type of relay box for it under the front seat carpet and carved out a piece of the sound insulation foam to accomodate it. Somehow, that relay box became dislodged and was pressing on the remaining sound deadening foam, thus pushing up the carpet. As for the dampness on the carpet - likely due to the snow on my boots which melted in the warm car!! Oh, I can be such an idiot sometimes, which makes that damn learning curve so much greater! Thanks to all those who read the post anyway.