SummaryIt is pointed out with the help of the Independent Domain Theory, that a fraction of the pore‐water constituting a volume ΔVis contained in pores not common to both the wetting and drying states and that this volume in a wetting state is contained in pores whose draining radii are greater than those of the pores containing the water volume ΔVin the drying state.On the above basis it is suggested that hysteresis may affect the hydraulic conductivity: firstly, through differences of the radii of the pores containing the water volume ΔV, which tend to endow a wetting state with a conductivity greater than that of an equally wet but drying state; secondly, through differences of the coordinates of the above‐mentioned pores, which may influence the paths of flow and consequently the hydraulic conductivity, and will have either a similar or opposite effect. It is concluded, therefore, that the conductivity in the wetting state can be greater, equal, or even less than that in the drying state, depending on the particular porou