The assumption in analytical solutions for flow from surface and buried point sources of an average water content, $bar{theta}$, behind the wetting front is examined. Some recent work has shown that this assumption fitted some field data well. Here we calculated $bar{theta}$ using a steady state solution based on the work by Raats <1971> and an exponential dependence of the diffusivity upon the water content. This is compared with a constant value of $bar{theta}$ calculated from an assumption of a hydraulic conductivity at the wetting front of 1 mm day-1 and the water content at saturation. This comparison was made for a wide range of soils. The constant $bar{theta}$ generally underestimated $bar{theta}$ at small wetted radii and overestimated $bar{theta}$ at large radii. The crossover point between under and overestimation changed with both soil properties and flow rate. The largest variance occurred for coarser texture soils at low-flow rates. At high-flow rates in finer-textured soils the use of a constant $bar{theta}$ results in underestimation of the time for the wetting front to reach a particular radius. The value of $bar{theta}$ is related to the time at which the wetting front reaches a given radius. In coarse-textured soils the use of a constant value of $bar{theta}$ can result in an error of the time when the wetting front reaches a particular radius, as large as 80% at low-flow rates and large radii.