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The description of flow transport through a porous media needs the knowledge of the permeability (k(h)/k(θ)) and water content functions (θ(h)). Traditional techniques for determining θ(h) involve stepwise equilibrium desorption or sorption experiments. k(θ) is often determined by steady state methods. Unfortunately, using the traditional way to determine these functions is often boring and time consuming. Earlier work has demonstrated the feasibility of using the inverse parameter estimation approach in determining these functions. In this work we propose to optimize some parameters of the soil hydraulic functions k(h) and θ(h) of the Van Genuchten's model, while being based on the results of the multi-step outflow experiments combined with the inverse method. The inverse problem is solved by using the Levenberg-Marquardt minimizing method of the least-squares norm. The results show that the model describes the process of drainage reasonably. The comparison of the measured and optimized values shows an agreement between measured and those optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]