diff --git a/pkg/ddevapp/config.go b/pkg/ddevapp/config.go
index 47c41f241f8..e93665f01cc 100644
--- a/pkg/ddevapp/config.go
+++ b/pkg/ddevapp/config.go
@@ -237,8 +237,6 @@ func (app *DdevApp) ReadConfig() error {
 		app.OmitContainers = globalconfig.DdevGlobalConfig.OmitContainers
 	}
 
-	app.ImportDir = app.GetConfigPath("import-db")
-
 	app.SetApptypeSettingsPaths()
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/pkg/ddevapp/ddevapp.go b/pkg/ddevapp/ddevapp.go
index 009ac6af06c..866695feabb 100644
--- a/pkg/ddevapp/ddevapp.go
+++ b/pkg/ddevapp/ddevapp.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package ddevapp
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/mattn/go-isatty"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
@@ -28,7 +30,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/drud/ddev/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/fsouza/go-dockerclient"
 	"github.com/lextoumbourou/goodhosts"
-	"github.com/mattn/go-isatty"
 	"github.com/mattn/go-shellwords"
 )
 
@@ -90,7 +91,6 @@ type DdevApp struct {
 	Platform              string               `yaml:"-"`
 	Provider              string               `yaml:"provider,omitempty"`
 	DataDir               string               `yaml:"-"`
-	ImportDir             string               `yaml:"-"`
 	SiteSettingsPath      string               `yaml:"-"`
 	SiteLocalSettingsPath string               `yaml:"-"`
 	providerInstance      Provider             `yaml:"-"`
@@ -263,16 +263,16 @@ func (app *DdevApp) GetWebserverType() string {
 func (app *DdevApp) ImportDB(imPath string, extPath string, progress bool) error {
 	app.DockerEnv()
 	var extPathPrompt bool
-	dbPath := app.ImportDir
-
-	err := app.ProcessHooks("pre-import-db")
+	dbPath, err := ioutil.TempDir(filepath.Dir(app.ConfigPath), "importdb")
+	//nolint: errcheck
+	defer os.RemoveAll(dbPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	err = fileutil.PurgeDirectory(dbPath)
+	err = app.ProcessHooks("pre-import-db")
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to cleanup %s before import: %v", dbPath, err)
+		return err
 	}
 
 	if imPath == "" {
@@ -340,9 +340,11 @@ func (app *DdevApp) ImportDB(imPath string, extPath string, progress bool) error
 		return fmt.Errorf("no .sql or .mysql files found to import")
 	}
 
+	// Inside the container, the dir for imports will be at /mnt/ddev_config/<tmpdir_name>
+	insideContainerImportPath := path.Join("/mnt/ddev_config", filepath.Base(dbPath))
 	_, _, err = app.Exec(&ExecOpts{
 		Service: "db",
-		Cmd:     []string{"bash", "-c", "mysql --database=mysql -e 'DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS db; CREATE DATABASE db;' && pv /db/*.*sql | mysql db"},
+		Cmd:     []string{"bash", "-c", "mysql --database=mysql -e 'DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS db; CREATE DATABASE db;' && pv " + insideContainerImportPath + "/*.*sql | mysql db"},
 		Tty:     progress && isatty.IsTerminal(os.Stderr.Fd()),
 	})
 
@@ -696,11 +698,6 @@ func (app *DdevApp) Start() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	err = app.prepSiteDirs()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	err = app.AddHostsEntries()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -933,7 +930,6 @@ func (app *DdevApp) DockerEnv() {
 		"DDEV_BGSYNCIMAGE":              app.BgsyncImage,
 		"DDEV_APPROOT":                  app.AppRoot,
 		"DDEV_DOCROOT":                  app.Docroot,
-		"DDEV_IMPORTDIR":                app.ImportDir,
 		"DDEV_URL":                      app.GetHTTPURL(),
 		"DDEV_HOSTNAME":                 app.HostName(),
 		"DDEV_UID":                      uidStr,
@@ -1367,31 +1363,6 @@ func (app *DdevApp) RemoveHostsEntries() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// prepSiteDirs creates a site's directories for db container mounts
-func (app *DdevApp) prepSiteDirs() error {
-
-	dirs := []string{
-		app.ImportDir,
-	}
-
-	for _, dir := range dirs {
-		fileInfo, err := os.Stat(dir)
-
-		if os.IsNotExist(err) { // If it doesn't exist, create it.
-			err = os.MkdirAll(dir, os.FileMode(int(0774)))
-			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("Failed to create directory %s, err: %v", dir, err)
-			}
-		} else if err == nil && fileInfo.IsDir() { // If the directory exists, we're fine and don't have to create it.
-			continue
-		} else { // But otherwise it must have existed as a file, so bail
-			return fmt.Errorf("error trying to create directory %s, err: %v", dir, err)
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
 // GetActiveAppRoot returns the fully rooted directory of the active app, or an error
 func GetActiveAppRoot(siteName string) (string, error) {
 	var siteDir string
diff --git a/pkg/ddevapp/templates.go b/pkg/ddevapp/templates.go
index b0b39b6bfdc..3c924f6dc55 100644
--- a/pkg/ddevapp/templates.go
+++ b/pkg/ddevapp/templates.go
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ services:
         target: "/var/lib/mysql"
         volume:
           nocopy: true
-      - type: "bind"
-        source: "${DDEV_IMPORTDIR}"
-        target: "/db"
       - type: "bind"
         source: "."
         target: "/mnt/ddev_config"
diff --git a/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.override.yml b/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.override.yml
index 4f13fcd1394..d806e6cd828 100644
--- a/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.override.yml
+++ b/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.override.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ services:
   foo:
     container_name: ddev-test-foo
     image: some/image:1.1.0
-    volumes:
-      - "${DDEV_IMPORTDIR}:/db"
     restart: always
     environment:
       - HTTP_EXPOSE=3306
diff --git a/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.yml b/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.yml
index 7e5744fd8f7..d6b64e0ef61 100644
--- a/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/pkg/dockerutil/testdata/docker-compose.yml
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ services:
     container_name: ddev-test-db
     image: DDEV_DBIMAGE
     user: "$DDEV_UID:$DDEV_GID"
-    volumes:
-      - "${DDEV_IMPORTDIR}:/db"
     restart: always
     environment:
       - SOME_ENV=env_value_goes_here
diff --git a/pkg/testcommon/testcommon.go b/pkg/testcommon/testcommon.go
index b31658bda16..e9603b42fd2 100644
--- a/pkg/testcommon/testcommon.go
+++ b/pkg/testcommon/testcommon.go
@@ -201,7 +201,6 @@ func ClearDockerEnv() {
 		"DDEV_DOCROOT",
 		"DDEV_URL",
 		"DDEV_HOSTNAME",
-		"DDEV_IMPORTDIR",
 		"DDEV_PHP_VERSION",
 		"DDEV_PROJECT_TYPE",
 		"DDEV_ROUTER_HTTP_PORT",