diff --git a/deployment/.env b/deployment/.env
index a415b2c..c5a700e 100644
--- a/deployment/.env
+++ b/deployment/.env
@@ -247,8 +247,9 @@ SFTP_FOLDER=/home/web/statics/sftp/
 PYTHONPATH=/home/web/django_project:/geonode
 USE_DEFAULT_GEOSERVER_STYLE=False
 INITIAL_FIXTURES=True
+GROUNDWATER_DATABASE_URL=postgis://geonode:geonode@db:5432/groundwater
 
-VERSION=4.7.1
+VERSION=4.8.0
 ISTSOS_VERSION=2.4.1-6
 
 # ------ GEOSERVER ------
diff --git a/django_project/core/settings/base.py b/django_project/core/settings/base.py
index d0b1100..4eac625 100644
--- a/django_project/core/settings/base.py
+++ b/django_project/core/settings/base.py
@@ -126,12 +126,20 @@
 ]
 # -- END Settings for Wagtail
 
-# gwml2 database conf
+# -- gwml2 database conf
 gwml2_database_conf = copy.copy(DATABASES['default'])
 gwml2_database_conf['NAME'] = 'groundwater'
-
 GWML2_DATABASE_CONFIG = 'gwml2'
+
+GROUNDWATER_DATABASE_URL = os.getenv("GROUNDWATER_DATABASE_URL", None)
+if GROUNDWATER_DATABASE_URL:
+    _db_conf = dj_database_url.parse(
+        GROUNDWATER_DATABASE_URL, conn_max_age=GEONODE_DB_CONN_MAX_AGE
+    )
+    gwml2_database_conf.update(_db_conf)
 DATABASES[GWML2_DATABASE_CONFIG] = gwml2_database_conf
+# --
+
 DATABASE_ROUTERS = ['gwml2.router.GWML2Router']
 ROOT_URLCONF = 'core.urls'
 
diff --git a/django_project/core/settings/dev.py b/django_project/core/settings/dev.py
index ca0b408..4b40b38 100644
--- a/django_project/core/settings/dev.py
+++ b/django_project/core/settings/dev.py
@@ -1,28 +1 @@
 from .base import *  # noqa
-
-DATABASES = {
-    'default': {
-        'NAME': 'geonode',
-        'USER': 'geonode',
-        'PASSWORD': 'geonode',
-        'HOST': 'db',
-        'PORT': 5432,
-        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 5,
-        'ENGINE': 'django.contrib.gis.db.backends.postgis'},
-    'datastore': {
-        'NAME': 'geonode_data',
-        'USER': 'geonode_data',
-        'PASSWORD': 'geonode',
-        'HOST': 'db',
-        'PORT': 5432,
-        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 5,
-        'ENGINE': 'django.contrib.gis.db.backends.postgis'},
-    'gwml2': {
-        'NAME': 'groundwater',
-        'USER': 'geonode',
-        'PASSWORD': 'geonode',
-        'HOST': 'db',
-        'PORT': 5432,
-        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 5,
-        'ENGINE': 'django.contrib.gis.db.backends.postgis'}
-}
diff --git a/django_project/version/version.txt b/django_project/version/version.txt
index cfacfe4..6ca6df1 100644
--- a/django_project/version/version.txt
+++ b/django_project/version/version.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-4.7.1
\ No newline at end of file
+4.8.0
\ No newline at end of file