diff --git a/backend-ror/Gemfile b/backend-ror/Gemfile
index b47bfef..82071d6 100644
--- a/backend-ror/Gemfile
+++ b/backend-ror/Gemfile
@@ -45,4 +45,7 @@ gem "schema_to_scaffold", "~> 0.8.2", :group => :development
 
 gem "binascii", "~> 1.0"
 
-gem 'dotenv-rails', groups: [:development, :test]
+# Dotenv can not be used in test environment at the moment, because it causes the tests to fail
+# https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv/issues/500
+# gem 'dotenv-rails', groups: [:development, :test]
+gem 'dotenv-rails', groups: [:development]
diff --git a/backend-ror/config/database.yml b/backend-ror/config/database.yml
index 0da4925..2cb8eef 100644
--- a/backend-ror/config/database.yml
+++ b/backend-ror/config/database.yml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ default: &default
   # For details on connection pooling, see Rails configuration guide
   # https://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html#database-pooling
   pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 } %>
-  database: <%= ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL") %>
+  database: <%= ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL") {''} %>
 
 development:
   <<: *default