In this paper, we report on the influence of the H 2 O additive in metal melt on the growth processes, morphology and defect-and-impurity structure of diamond crystals. As a source of water, a mixture of Mg(OH) 2 and SiO 2 was used, which reacted under the experimental conditions following the reaction 2Mg(OH) 2 +SiO 2 =Mg 2 SiO 4 +2H 2 O. The main experiments were performed in the Ni 0.7 Fe 0.3 -C system at a pressure of 6 GPa, temperature of 1370 °C, duration of 15 hrs and H 2 O concentration (C H2O ) ranging from 0 to 0.5 wt.%. It is found that as H 2 O content increases from 0 to 0.2 wt.%, diamond morphology changes from bulky octahedra to {111} plate-like crystals and then to {111} dendrites. Further increases in C H2O in the range 0.22-0.4 wt.% result in crystallization of bulky rhombic dodecahedra and then {110} dendrites. At C H2O higher than approximately 0.43 wt.%, nucleation and growth of diamond are completely terminated and graphite only crystallizes. The systematic changes in diamond growth and morphology are accompanied by a decrease in nitrogen impurity concentration in diamond from 220-230 to 40-50 ppm, an increase in the density of micro-inclusions and appearance in IR spectra of a peak at 2840 cm -1 , related to hydrocarbons. *In this paper, we report on the influence of the H 2 O additive in metal melt on the growth processes, morphology and defect-and-impurity structure of diamond crystals. As a source of water, a mixture of Mg(OH) 2 and SiO 2 was used, which reacted under the experimental conditions following the reaction 2Mg(OH) 2 +SiO 2 =Mg 2 SiO 4 +2H 2 O. The main experiments were performed in the Ni 0.7 Fe 0.3 -C system at a pressure of 6 GPa, temperature of 1370 °C, duration of 15 hrs and H 2 O concentration (C H2O ) ranging from 0 to 0.5 wt.%. It is found that as H 2 O content increases from 0 to 0.2 wt.%, diamond morphology changes from bulky octahedra to {111} plate-like crystals and then to {111} dendrites. Further increases in C H2O in the range 0.22-0.4 wt.% result in crystallization of bulky rhombic dodecahedra and then {110} dendrites. At C H2O higher than approximately 0.43 wt.%, nucleation and growth of diamond are completely terminated and graphite only crystallizes. The systematic changes in diamond growth and morphology are accompanied by a decrease in nitrogen impurity concentration in diamond from