The State Government of Maharashtra has already declared 15747 villages of 12183 Gram Panchayats in 21 districts as drought affected, under relevant State regulations in October 2015.
Solapur is an arid district with normal rainfall averaging about 500 mm, which is quite low. The sugar cane cultivation in Solapur district and the sugar processing factories consume a huge volume of the stored water from Ujjani Dam. The drinking water needs of Solapur town is also met by the dam.

The 2015 monsoon provided a paltry 200 mm of rainfall, making it one of the worse affected districts in the drought of 2015-16.