diff --git a/Database/Persist/Postgresql.hs b/Database/Persist/Postgresql.hs
--- a/Database/Persist/Postgresql.hs
+++ b/Database/Persist/Postgresql.hs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     ) where
 
 import Database.Persist
-import Database.Persist.Base
+import Database.Persist.Base hiding (Add, Update)
 import Database.Persist.GenericSql
 import Database.Persist.GenericSql.Internal
 
@@ -23,9 +23,13 @@
 import Control.Arrow
 import Data.List (sort, groupBy)
 import Data.Function (on)
-import qualified Data.ByteString.UTF8 as BSU
 import Control.Monad.Invert (MonadInvertIO)
 
+import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+import qualified Data.Text.Encoding as T
+import qualified Data.Text.Encoding.Error as T
+
 withPostgresqlPool :: MonadInvertIO m
                    => String
                    -> Int -- ^ number of connections to open
@@ -181,7 +185,7 @@
         case x of
             Nothing -> return $ front []
             Just [PersistByteString con, PersistByteString col] ->
-                getAll pop (front . (:) (BSU.toString con, BSU.toString col))
+                getAll pop (front . (:) (bsToChars con, bsToChars col))
             Just _ -> getAll pop front -- FIXME error message?
     helperU pop = do
         rows <- getAll pop id
@@ -230,12 +234,12 @@
     case d' of
         Left s -> return $ Left s
         Right d'' ->
-            case getType $ BSU.toString z of
+            case getType $ bsToChars z of
                 Left s -> return $ Left s
                 Right t -> do
-                    let cname = RawName $ BSU.toString x
+                    let cname = RawName $ bsToChars x
                     ref <- getRef cname
-                    return $ Right $ Column cname (BSU.toString y == "YES")
+                    return $ Right $ Column cname (bsToChars y == "YES")
                                      t d'' ref
   where
     getRef cname = do
@@ -256,7 +260,7 @@
             return $ if i == 0 then Nothing else Just (RawName "", ref)
     d' = case d of
             PersistNull -> Right Nothing
-            PersistByteString a -> Right $ Just $ BSU.toString a
+            PersistByteString a -> Right $ Just $ bsToChars a
             _ -> Left $ "Invalid default column: " ++ show d
     getType "int4" = Right $ SqlInt32
     getType "int8" = Right $ SqlInteger
@@ -441,3 +445,6 @@
     go "" = ""
     go ('"':xs) = "\"\"" ++ go xs
     go (x:xs) = x : go xs
+
+bsToChars :: ByteString -> String
+bsToChars = T.unpack . T.decodeUtf8With T.lenientDecode
diff --git a/persistent-postgresql.cabal b/persistent-postgresql.cabal
--- a/persistent-postgresql.cabal
+++ b/persistent-postgresql.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            persistent-postgresql
-version:         0.3.0
+version:         0.3.1
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@
                      HDBC >= 2.2.6 && < 2.3,
                      transformers >= 0.2.1 && < 0.3,
                      HDBC-postgresql >= 2.2.3.1 && < 2.3,
-                     persistent >= 0.3.0 && < 0.4,
+                     persistent >= 0.3.1 && < 0.4,
                      containers >= 0.2 && < 0.5,
                      bytestring >= 0.9 && < 0.10,
                      neither >= 0.1 && < 0.2,
-                     utf8-string >= 0.3.6 && < 0.4
+                     text >= 0.7 && < 0.11
     exposed-modules: Database.Persist.Postgresql
     ghc-options:     -Wall