diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 914faa1e..1a61c43b 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 cf-units>=2
 cftime>=1.1.0
-importlib-metadata  # drop this when dropping Python 3.8
-importlib-resources  # drop this when dropping Python 3.8
+importlib-metadata
+importlib-resources
 isodate>=0.6.1
 jinja2>=2.7.3
 lxml>=3.2.1