diff --git a/sprockets_postgres.py b/sprockets_postgres.py
index 33e3892..449deb1 100644
--- a/sprockets_postgres.py
+++ b/sprockets_postgres.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 import os
 import time
 import typing
-from distutils import util
 from urllib import parse
 
 import aiodns
@@ -42,6 +41,16 @@
 """Type annotation for timeout values"""
 
 
+def _strtobool(value: str) -> int:
+    """Convert common configuration strings to 1 or 0."""
+    normalized = value.lower()
+    if normalized in ('y', 'yes', 't', 'true', 'on', '1'):
+        return 1
+    if normalized in ('n', 'no', 'f', 'false', 'off', '0'):
+        return 0
+    raise ValueError('invalid truth value {!r}'.format(value))
+
+
 class QueryResult:
     """Contains the results of the query that was executed.
 
@@ -476,17 +485,17 @@ def _create_postgres_settings(self) -> dict:
                     DEFAULT_POSTGRES_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT))),
             'enable_hstore': self.settings.get(
                 'postgres_hstore',
-                util.strtobool(
+                _strtobool(
                     os.environ.get(
                         'POSTGRES_HSTORE', DEFAULT_POSTGRES_HSTORE))),
             'enable_json': self.settings.get(
                 'postgres_json',
-                util.strtobool(
+                _strtobool(
                     os.environ.get(
                         'POSTGRES_JSON', DEFAULT_POSTGRES_JSON))),
             'enable_uuid': self.settings.get(
                 'postgres_uuid',
-                util.strtobool(
+                _strtobool(
                     os.environ.get(
                         'POSTGRES_UUID', DEFAULT_POSTGRES_UUID))),
             'query_timeout': int(self.settings.get(
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index 44b6459..35b35c8 100644
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -361,6 +361,25 @@ async def test_postgres_status_before_first_connection(self):
              'pool_free': 0})
 
 
+class StrToBoolTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_truthy_values(self):
+        for value in ('y', 'yes', 't', 'true', 'on', '1',
+                      'Y', 'YES', 'T', 'TRUE', 'ON', 'True'):
+            with self.subTest(value=value):
+                self.assertEqual(sprockets_postgres._strtobool(value), 1)
+
+    def test_falsy_values(self):
+        for value in ('n', 'no', 'f', 'false', 'off', '0',
+                      'N', 'NO', 'F', 'FALSE', 'OFF'):
+            with self.subTest(value=value):
+                self.assertEqual(sprockets_postgres._strtobool(value), 0)
+
+    def test_invalid_value(self):
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, 'invalid truth value'):
+            sprockets_postgres._strtobool('maybe')
+
+
 class ReconnectionTestCast(TestCase):
 
     @ttesting.gen_test