Hundreds of thousands of residents in Toledo, Ohio are free to drink tap water once again.

The ban was lifted on Monday by Mayor D. Michael Collins, notes The Associated Press.

On Saturday, residents were told not to drink, wash dishes or brush teeth with the water after tests showed microcystin that were above the normal levels for consumption.

Drinking the water could have caused cramps, rashes and vomiting. Parents were told not to let children shower with the water. The three-day ban affected as many as 400,000 people.

Drinkable water was being delivered from other parts of Ohio, and the Ohio National Guard was producing water as well.

Toledo resident Oliver Arnold explained that he had stocked up and was using a lot of it to bathe his six children.

"We're going through a lot," he said. "I know by tomorrow we're going to be looking for water again."

Hospitals were also taking precautions by getting their equipment sterilized elsewhere.

The emergency got people talking about how to prevent this from happening again.

"People are finally waking up to the fact that this is not acceptable," Mayor Collins said.

The problems aren't new. In fact, water plant operators working along western Lake Erie have worried that algae blooms, which make the water a pea soup color, would leave toxins behind.

According to NPR, Collins said that the lake has been affected by the runoff from farms, lawns and solid waste.

"We have not been good stewards of this natural resource," he said.

Before drinking the water, Toledo residents should run it for 15 minutes.

A satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a concentrated algae bloom in Toledo's water supply, according to Jeff Reuter, who is the head of the Ohio Sea Grant research lab.

"Weather conditions made it such that bloom was going right into the water intakes," he said.