diff --git a/hc/settings.py b/hc/settings.py
index ab8fed33..fa8e31e5 100644
--- a/hc/settings.py
+++ b/hc/settings.py
@@ -92,8 +92,7 @@ DATABASES = {
     'default': {
         'ENGINE':   'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
         'NAME':     'hc',
-        'USER':     'postgres',
-        'PASSWORD': '',
+        'USER':     env.get("pg_user", "postgres"),
         'TEST': {'CHARSET': 'UTF8'}
     }
 }