diff --git a/pkg/dbclient/client.go b/pkg/dbclient/client.go
index a6644d8c..a0637dc5 100644
--- a/pkg/dbclient/client.go
+++ b/pkg/dbclient/client.go
@@ -58,7 +58,13 @@ func (p *client) getDB(dbname string) (*sql.DB, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	u.Path = "/" + dbname
-	return sql.Open("postgres", u.String())
+	// thayward: Why is this creating a new pool instead of using p.DB?
+	db, err := sql.Open("postgres", u.String())
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	db.SetConnMaxIdleTime(time.Minute)
+	return db, nil
 }
 
 type Config struct {
@@ -98,6 +104,7 @@ func newPostgresClient(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) (*client, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	db.SetConnMaxIdleTime(time.Minute)
 
 	// create a new connection to the database to run admin commands.
 
@@ -111,6 +118,7 @@ func newPostgresClient(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) (*client, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	adminDB.SetConnMaxIdleTime(time.Minute)
 
 	if err := adminDB.PingContext(ctx); err != nil {
 		adminDB.Close()
diff --git a/pkg/pgctl/utils.go b/pkg/pgctl/utils.go
index 01b24f76..6fdc167c 100644
--- a/pkg/pgctl/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/pgctl/utils.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"net/url"
 	"os/exec"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
 )
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ func getDB(dsn string, db *sql.DB) (*sql.DB, error) {
 		if db, err = sql.Open("postgres", dsn); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		db.SetConnMaxIdleTime(time.Minute)
 	}
 	if err = db.Ping(); err != nil {
 		return nil, err