diff --git a/pyasdf/__init__.py b/pyasdf/__init__.py
index c9fde62..2c191f2 100644
--- a/pyasdf/__init__.py
+++ b/pyasdf/__init__.py
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
     BSD 3-Clause ("BSD New" or "BSD Simplified")
 """
 
-import sys
+try:
+    from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError, version
+except ImportError:
+    from importlib_metadata import PackageNotFoundError, version
 
 
 from .exceptions import ASDFException, ASDFWarning, WaveformNotInFileException
@@ -24,20 +27,10 @@
 ]
 
 
-if sys.version_info.minor >= 9:
-    from importlib.metadata import version, PackageNotFoundError
-
-    try:
-        __version__ = version("pyasdf")
-    except PackageNotFoundError:
-        pass
-else:
-    import pkg_resources
-
-    try:
-        __version__ = pkg_resources.get_distribution("pyasdf").version
-    except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
-        pass
+try:
+    __version__ = version("pyasdf")
+except PackageNotFoundError:
+    pass
 
 
 def print_sys_info():
diff --git a/pyasdf/watermark.py b/pyasdf/watermark.py
index 1f79ea5..d8d3f85 100644
--- a/pyasdf/watermark.py
+++ b/pyasdf/watermark.py
@@ -9,14 +9,18 @@
     BSD 3-Clause ("BSD New" or "BSD Simplified")
 """
 
-from multiprocessing import cpu_count
-from pkg_resources import get_distribution
 import platform
+from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 from socket import gethostname
 from time import strftime
 
 import h5py
 
+try:
+    from importlib.metadata import version
+except ImportError:
+    from importlib_metadata import version
+
 try:
     from mpi4py import MPI
 except ImportError:
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ def get_watermark():
     }
 
     watermark["module_versions"] = {
-        module: get_distribution(module).version for module in modules
+        module: version(module) for module in modules
     }
     if MPI is None:
         watermark["module_versions"]["mpi4py"] = None
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 21ae6da..1ac51fe 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "colorama",
     "dill",
     "h5py",
+    "importlib-metadata; python_version < '3.8'",
     "numpy",
     "obspy>=1.2.1",
     "packaging",