Photos: Bethel's water delivery trucks keep the town hydrated

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Bethel water trucker driver Lisa Paul, 30, works to deliver water to homes and businesses in Bethel, Alaska, on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. She displays a Spiderman mask on her truck as a nod to her 8-year-old son.

BETHEL – In a Bush town where living often is rough, a shortage of Bethel city truck drivers, mechanics and trucks themselves for weeks has disrupted delivery of one of the basic necessities: water.

City officials said this week that with overtime and extra shifts, a real disaster was averted and water deliveries are finally caught up. Sewage removal from holding tanks should be back on schedule by Saturday. Only a few people reported they ran out of water or saw their sewage tanks overflow with brown liquid, according to the city. Others may have toughed it out without calling in.

The near crisis underscores the importance of the big trucks with silver tanks that rumble daily down Bethel's streets to bring water to home and apartments, stores and restaurants, office buildings and residential treatment centers. Red-tanked trucks haul away the sewage.

Read more: Big need for water truck drivers shows itself in Bethel -- when water runs out