diff --git a/api/db/connection.js b/api/db/connection.js
index 091fc29..932b34d 100644
--- a/api/db/connection.js
+++ b/api/db/connection.js
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ if (
     "Some Postgres environment variables weren't found. Please configure them in the .env file."
   );
 
-const connection_string = `postgresql://${process.env.POSTGRES_USERNAME}@${process.env.POSTGRES_HOST}:${process.env.POSTGRES_PORT}/${process.env.POSTGRES_DB_NAME}?sslmode=${process.env.POSTGRES_SSLMODE}&password=${process.env.POSTGRES_PASSWORD}&ssl=true`;
+const connection_string = `postgresql://${process.env.POSTGRES_USERNAME}@${process.env.POSTGRES_HOST}:${process.env.POSTGRES_PORT}/${process.env.POSTGRES_DB_NAME}?password=${process.env.POSTGRES_PASSWORD}&ssl=true`;
 const db = pgp(connection_string);
 
 module.exports = db;