Water levels in Iraq's river Tigris have dropped dramatically in the past two days following a decrease in supply out of Turkey.

The Iraqi Ministry of Water blamed the shortage on Turkey filling up the newly built Ilisu Dam, close to where the Tigris flows into Iraq.

The director of Mosul Dam in Iraq told Iraqi Kurdish television, Channel Kurdistan 24, the amount of water coming from Turkey has decreased by 50 percent.

The Tigris is one of two major rivers in Iraq, providing water to millions of people in the country's central and southern cities, and also irrigating many of its main farmlands.