Werner and Lockington (2006) have raised comments on our paper (Huang et al., 2005). They have reminded us that the inclusion of hysteresis effects and elimination of pumping errors are critical to model the movement of soil moisture in the vadose zone. If the soil-moisture model fails to eliminate the artificial pumping effect, the cumulative errors associated with the generation of hysteresis scanning curves are significant and lead to unrealistic simulated results. Several studies have developed empirical hysteresis models (e.g. Gillham et al., 1979; Jaynes, 1984; Scott et al., 1983; Kool and Parker, 1987; Parker and Lenhard, 1987; Lenhard et al., 1991; Simunek et al., 1999) and a systematic evaluation of the accuracy and convenience of these models is required. Our hysteresis model (Huang et al., 2005) is developed on the basis of the van Genuchten soil-moisture relation (van Genuchten, 1980) and modified from the Kool and Parker (1987) model, hereafter called KP model, to describe soil-moisture retention curves and eliminate the pumping effect. Parker and Lenhard (1987) had carried out a similar treatment, which is referred to as PL model here. Our model yields a series of closed-form relationships in which two shape factors, and , are determined from the main drying and wetting curves. Experimental data and data from the literature were used to compare the accuracy of the proposed model, KP model and Scott model (Scott et al., 1983). The three models have equal accuracy for estimation of the primary scanning curve. However, the Scott and KP models yield an erroneous pumping effect in the secondary and higher order scanning curves. Our model is simple, accurate and effective in constructing the series of wetting and drying scanning curves. It eliminates the pumping effect and has a perfect closure at the reversal points of the scanning curve. Several studies (e.g. Bomba and Miller, 1967;