diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index cf2c070e5..6c55d886c 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@
   version = "v0.8.0"
 
 [[projects]]
-  digest = "1:c2e43fd96b4d164d4d573afd73cb8610a27c2ed735a4d028329f162c48d8782e"
+  digest = "1:0018931fa4284edacbbfc104fbd34c7a560edee63a1375188c8627e3c000c6c6"
   name = "github.com/presslabs/controller-util"
   packages = [
     "mergo/transformers",
@@ -390,8 +390,8 @@
     "syncer",
   ]
   pruneopts = "T"
-  revision = "2411d6b0c73e38cce863544a0f9945f6fc848c22"
-  version = "v0.1.9"
+  revision = "3df98a3c1e2b9cfe8cd1b1960dc5067845035d91"
+  version = "v0.1.10"
 
 [[projects]]
   digest = "1:3b5729e3fc486abc6fc16ce026331c3d196e788c3b973081ecf5d28ae3e1050d"
@@ -1038,6 +1038,7 @@
     "k8s.io/client-go/transport/spdy",
     "k8s.io/client-go/util/workqueue",
     "k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/deepcopy-gen",
+    "k8s.io/klog",
     "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client",
     "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/config",
     "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/controller",
diff --git a/Gopkg.toml b/Gopkg.toml
index 9862626bb..bd94e05f0 100644
--- a/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/Gopkg.toml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ required = [
 
 [[constraint]]
   name="github.com/presslabs/controller-util"
-  version = "v0.1.9"
+  version = "v0.1.10"
 
 # use wgliang version of cron because provides cron removal
 [[override]]
diff --git a/cmd/mysql-operator-sidecar/main.go b/cmd/mysql-operator-sidecar/main.go
index e86a17960..389b6b0ce 100644
--- a/cmd/mysql-operator-sidecar/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mysql-operator-sidecar/main.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
+	utilLog "github.com/presslabs/controller-util/log"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/runtime/signals"
 
@@ -28,7 +29,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/presslabs/mysql-operator/pkg/sidecar/appconf"
 	"github.com/presslabs/mysql-operator/pkg/sidecar/apphelper"
 	"github.com/presslabs/mysql-operator/pkg/sidecar/apptakebackup"
-	customLog "github.com/presslabs/mysql-operator/pkg/util/log"
 	logf "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/runtime/log"
 )
 
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	// add flags and parse them
+	debug := false
+	flag.BoolVar(&debug, "debug", false, "Set logger in debug mode")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
 	if err := cmd.ParseFlags(os.Args[1:]); err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "failed to parse global flags, see helps, err: %s", err)
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	// setup logging
-	logf.SetLogger(customLog.ZapLogger())
+	logf.SetLogger(utilLog.ZapLogger(debug))
 
 	confCmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "init-configs",
diff --git a/cmd/mysql-operator/main.go b/cmd/mysql-operator/main.go
index fef5c6f9f..4baf77991 100644
--- a/cmd/mysql-operator/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mysql-operator/main.go
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
-	customLog "github.com/presslabs/mysql-operator/pkg/util/log"
+	utilLog "github.com/presslabs/controller-util/log"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	_ "k8s.io/client-go/plugin/pkg/client/auth/gcp"
+	"k8s.io/klog"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/config"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/manager"
 	logf "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/runtime/log"
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@ func main() {
 	fs := pflag.NewFlagSet(os.Args[0], pflag.ExitOnError)
 	fs.AddGoFlagSet(flag.CommandLine)
 
+	debug := false
+	fs.BoolVar(&debug, "debug", false, "Set logger in debug mode")
+
 	opt := options.GetOptions()
 	opt.AddFlags(fs)
 	if err := fs.Parse(os.Args); err != nil {
@@ -48,7 +52,12 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	// set logging
-	logf.SetLogger(customLog.ZapLogger())
+	klogFlags := flag.NewFlagSet("klog", flag.ExitOnError)
+	klog.InitFlags(klogFlags)
+	klogFlags.Set("logtostderr", "true")      // nolint: errcheck
+	klogFlags.Set("alsologtostderr", "false") // nolint: errcheck
+
+	logf.SetLogger(utilLog.ZapLogger(debug))
 
 	if err := opt.Validate(); err != nil {
 		log.Error(err, "failed to validate command line args, see help.")
diff --git a/hack/dev-values.yaml b/hack/dev-values.yaml
index 97afe18d6..11422f1f8 100644
--- a/hack/dev-values.yaml
+++ b/hack/dev-values.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 extraArgs:
-  - -v=1
   - --debug
 
 installCRDs: false
diff --git a/hack/docker/sidecar-entrypoint.sh b/hack/docker/sidecar-entrypoint.sh
index 5f39fb427..2ab9de3c4 100755
--- a/hack/docker/sidecar-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/hack/docker/sidecar-entrypoint.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ ${GCS_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON_KEY}
 EOF
 
 SIDECAR_BIN=mysql-operator-sidecar
-VERBOSE="-v 1 --debug"
+VERBOSE="--debug"
 
 # exec command
 case "$1" in
diff --git a/pkg/controller/internal/testutil/testutil.go b/pkg/controller/internal/testutil/testutil.go
index eb0d8dabd..fe4cb61da 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/internal/testutil/testutil.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/internal/testutil/testutil.go
@@ -22,10 +22,8 @@ import (
 
 	// loggging
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
-	"github.com/go-logr/zapr"
-	"go.uber.org/zap"
-	"go.uber.org/zap/zapcore"
 
+	utilLog "github.com/presslabs/controller-util/log"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/reconcile"
 )
 
@@ -46,16 +44,6 @@ func DrainChan(requests <-chan reconcile.Request) {
 }
 
 // NewTestLogger returns a logger good for tests
-func NewTestLogger(w io.Writer, options ...zap.Option) logr.Logger {
-	encoderCfg := zapcore.EncoderConfig{
-		MessageKey:     "msg",
-		LevelKey:       "level",
-		NameKey:        "logger",
-		EncodeLevel:    zapcore.LowercaseLevelEncoder,
-		EncodeTime:     zapcore.ISO8601TimeEncoder,
-		EncodeDuration: zapcore.StringDurationEncoder,
-	}
-	sink := zapcore.AddSync(w)
-	core := zapcore.NewCore(zapcore.NewConsoleEncoder(encoderCfg), sink, zap.DebugLevel)
-	return zapr.NewLogger(zap.New(core).WithOptions(options...))
+func NewTestLogger(w io.Writer) logr.Logger {
+	return utilLog.ZapLoggerTo(w, true)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/util/log/log.go b/pkg/util/log/log.go
deleted file mode 100644
index d51d045b4..000000000
--- a/pkg/util/log/log.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright 2018 Pressinfra SRL
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package log
-
-import (
-	"flag"
-	"log"
-
-	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
-	"github.com/go-logr/zapr"
-	"go.uber.org/zap"
-	"go.uber.org/zap/zapcore"
-	"k8s.io/klog"
-)
-
-var debug = false
-var logLevel = 0
-
-func init() {
-	flag.BoolVar(&debug, "debug", false, "Set logger in debug mode")
-	flag.IntVar(&logLevel, "v", 0, "Set verbosity level")
-
-	klogFlags := flag.NewFlagSet("klog", flag.ExitOnError)
-	klog.InitFlags(klogFlags)
-	klogFlags.Set("logtostderr", "true")      // nolint: errcheck
-	klogFlags.Set("alsologtostderr", "false") // nolint: errcheck
-}
-
-// ZapLogger returns a configured logged based on command line flags -v and --debug
-func ZapLogger() logr.Logger {
-	cfg := zap.NewProductionConfig()
-	maxLevel := 1
-	if debug {
-		cfg = zap.NewDevelopmentConfig()
-		maxLevel = 100
-	}
-
-	//cfg.DisableStacktrace = true
-
-	zapLog, err := cfg.Build(zap.AddCallerSkip(1))
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("logger building error: %v ", err) // who watches the watchmen?
-	}
-
-	// get the v value from flags and then set the logger value
-	level := zapcore.WarnLevel
-	if logLevel > 0 {
-		if logLevel > maxLevel {
-			logLevel = maxLevel
-		}
-		level = zapcore.Level(-1 * logLevel)
-	}
-
-	// set debugger level
-	cfg.Level.SetLevel(level)
-
-	// the AtomicLevel can be used to dynamically adjust the logging level
-	// there's a helper function (zap.LevelFlag) to add a flag for adjusting it too
-	return zapr.NewLogger(zapLog)
-}
diff --git a/test/e2e-values.yaml b/test/e2e-values.yaml
index 80bb8405f..b026022f3 100644
--- a/test/e2e-values.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e-values.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 extraArgs:
-  - -v=1
   - --debug
 
 orchestrator:
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/presslabs/controller-util/Gopkg.toml b/vendor/github.com/presslabs/controller-util/Gopkg.toml
index 5715fa19b..8de731268 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/presslabs/controller-util/Gopkg.toml
+++ b/vendor/github.com/presslabs/controller-util/Gopkg.toml
@@ -19,10 +19,6 @@ required = [
 [prune]
   go-tests = true
 
-[[constraint]]
-  name="code.cloudfoundry.org/lager"
-  version = "v2.0.0"
-
 [[constraint]]
   name="github.com/imdario/mergo"
   version = "v0.3.6"