diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 8ee1853a..1001e373 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ env:
   POSTGRES_DB: postgres
   POSTGRES_USER: postgres
   POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
-  DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres
   GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS: "${{ secrets.GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS }}"
   DJANGO_GCP_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME: ${{ secrets.DJANGO_GCP_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME }}
   GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/config/settings/base.py b/config/settings/base.py
index 713f9237..5d5d0859 100644
--- a/config/settings/base.py
+++ b/config/settings/base.py
@@ -13,11 +13,6 @@
 APPS_DIR = ROOT_DIR / "pepfar_mle"
 env = environ.Env()
 
-# >>> from urllib.parse import quote_plus
-# >>> host = '/cloudsql/sghi-307909:europe-west1:clinical-instance'
-# >>> quote_plus(host)
-# '%2Fcloudsql%2Fsghi-307909%3Aeurope-west1%3Aclinical-instance'
-# >>>
 if os.environ.get("GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT", None):
     project_id = os.environ.get("GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT")
     client = secretmanager.SecretManagerServiceClient()
@@ -26,7 +21,6 @@
     payload = client.access_secret_version(name=name).payload.data.decode("UTF-8")
     env.read_env(io.StringIO(payload))
     print("set env from secrets...")
-    print(f'database settings: {env.db("DATABASE_URL")}')
 
 # GENERAL
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -53,8 +47,17 @@
 # DATABASES
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#databases
-DATABASES = {"default": env.db("DATABASE_URL")}
-DATABASES["default"]["ATOMIC_REQUESTS"] = True
+DATABASES = {
+    "default": {
+        "NAME": env.str("POSTGRES_DB"),
+        "USER": env.str("POSTGRES_USER"),
+        "PASSWORD": env.str("POSTGRES_PASSWORD"),
+        "HOST": env.str("POSTGRES_HOST"),
+        "PORT": env.str("POSTGRES_PORT"),
+        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
+        "ATOMIC_REQUESTS": True,
+    }
+}
 
 # URLS
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/config/settings/production.py b/config/settings/production.py
index cfc8bbc1..f778ff6e 100644
--- a/config/settings/production.py
+++ b/config/settings/production.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 
 # DATABASES
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-DATABASES["default"] = env.db("DATABASE_URL")  # noqa F405
 DATABASES["default"]["ATOMIC_REQUESTS"] = True  # noqa F405
 DATABASES["default"]["CONN_MAX_AGE"] = env.int("CONN_MAX_AGE", default=60)  # noqa F405
 
diff --git a/config/settings/test.py b/config/settings/test.py
index 5bc61654..feebcc62 100644
--- a/config/settings/test.py
+++ b/config/settings/test.py
@@ -79,4 +79,8 @@ def require_env(name: str) -> str:
 # ensure that environment variables that are needed to run tests successfully are present
 require_env("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS")
 require_env("DJANGO_GCP_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME")
-require_env("DATABASE_URL")
+require_env("POSTGRES_DB")
+require_env("POSTGRES_USER")
+require_env("POSTGRES_PASSWORD")
+require_env("POSTGRES_HOST")
+require_env("POSTGRES_PORT")
diff --git a/entrypoint b/entrypoint
index 88e3ab53..3e14e425 100644
--- a/entrypoint
+++ b/entrypoint
@@ -4,23 +4,6 @@ set -o errexit
 set -o pipefail
 set -o nounset
 
-if [ -z "${POSTGRES_USER}" ]; then
-    base_postgres_image_default_user='postgres'
-    export POSTGRES_USER="${base_postgres_image_default_user}"
-fi
-echo "Set/checked POSTGRES_USER..."
-
-# omit the port when running on App Engine, Cloud Run etc
-if [ -z "${INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME}" ]; then
-    export DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST}:${POSTGRES_PORT}/${POSTGRES_DB}"
-    echo "Set up database URL for running in Cloud SQL (Unix Socket)"
-else
-    export DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST}/${POSTGRES_DB}"
-    echo "Set up database URL for running outside Cloud SQL (host and port)"
-fi
-
-echo "Database URL: ${DATABASE_URL}"
-
 postgres_ready() {
 python << END
 import sys