What to say when you file ELAP for water hauling
ELAP may help with the extra cost of hauling water to eligible grazing livestock during an eligible drought. Start your records the day you start hauling: FSA looks for the dates and total gallons. The cost of the water itself isn’t eligible.
Where to go: FSA county office, at your local USDA Service Center
When: Notice of loss and application are both due March 1 after the program year of the loss: March 1, 2027 for 2026 losses.
Farmer’s Navigator is not USDA. FSA decides whether your county and your hauling qualify and what it may pay.
If you call
Fill in the brackets with your own details.
“Hi, I’m calling about ELAP. I’ve been hauling water to my livestock because of drought since [date]. I’d like to file a notice of loss and an application. Could I set up a time, and what records do you need?”
If you walk in
“Hi, I’d like to file for ELAP for water hauling. I’ve been hauling water to [number] head of [kind of livestock] in [county] since [date] because [the well / pond / spring] went dry. I don’t normally haul water to this pasture. I have records of the dates and gallons. What else do you need?”
What to bring
- A log of every haul, showing the dates and total gallons
- Receipts and invoices for equipment rental, labor and contracted hauling
- Livestock inventory, and where the animals normally graze
- What your normal water system is, and how you know it failed. Dated photos can help.
- Your acreage report (FSA-578), filed on time for the year
- Your grower contract if you are a contract grower, and a farm operating plan if a current one isn’t on file
- A beginning, veteran or limited resource certification, if it applies to you
Questions to ask
- Did my county have an eligible drought for water hauling this year?
- What price per gallon and national payment rate apply this year?
- How do you figure the 150-day limit for my herd?
- Do my records show what you need?
- Should I also look at LFP for grazing losses, or ELAP for hauling feed?
What happens next
- FSA reviews your notice, application and records. If it asks for more, it’s due by the later of March 1 or 60 days after the request.
- FSA figures any payment from the gallons you hauled times its set price per gallon, not your receipts, capped at 150 days of water for your herd, then applies the national payment rate.
Good to know
- ELAP’s eligible drought is different from LFP’s: any area of the county at D2 for at least 8 consecutive weeks, or at D3 or D4. For hauling, the drought also has to directly affect water availability during the normal grazing period.
- The land must have had adequate watering systems before the drought, and you must not normally have to haul water there.
- FSA’s national average price to transport water is $0.11 per gallon for 2026. A national payment rate of 60% to 80% then applies, or 90% for beginning, veteran, limited resource and socially disadvantaged producers.
Sources
- FSA ELAP program page
- FSA Notice ELAP-27, 2026 rates
- 7 CFR 1416.102, eligible drought
- 7 CFR 1416.103, eligible losses
- 7 CFR 1416.106, records
- 7 CFR 1416.107, March 1 date
- 7 CFR 1416.109, national payment rate
- 7 CFR 1416.110, payment calculation
Last updated . Checked against the sources above.
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