diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index a54de76..6199027 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ jobs:
 
       env:
         OS: ${{ matrix.os }}
-        PYTHON: '3.7'
+        PYTHON: '3.8'
 
       steps:
 
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
         - name: Set up Python
           uses: actions/setup-python@master
           with:
-            python-version: 3.7
+            python-version: 3.8
 
         - name: Install dependencies
           run: |
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6789939..7d31c55 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ For a quick start, check out the [Jupyter notebook tutorial](https://github.com/
 
 ## getting started
 
-Ensure you have Python >= 3.7 available (consider using a [virtual environment](https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv), see the docs [here](https://mosartwmpy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/virtualenv.html) for a brief tutorial), then install `mosartwmpy` with:
+Ensure you have Python >= 3.8 available (consider using a [virtual environment](https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv), see the docs [here](https://mosartwmpy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/virtualenv.html) for a brief tutorial), then install `mosartwmpy` with:
 ```shell
 pip install mosartwmpy
 ```
diff --git a/mosartwmpy/_version.py b/mosartwmpy/_version.py
index dd9b22c..7225152 100644
--- a/mosartwmpy/_version.py
+++ b/mosartwmpy/_version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.5.1"
+__version__ = "0.5.2"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 997e829..e5dc0db 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ def readme():
     description='Python implementation of MOSART-WM: A water routing and management model',
     long_description=readme(),
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
-    python_requires='>=3.7.*, <4',
+    python_requires='>=3.8.*, <4',
     include_package_data=True,
     entry_points={
         'console_scripts': [
@@ -30,40 +30,40 @@ def readme():
         ]
     },
     install_requires=[
-        'bmipy~=2.0',
-        'click~=8.0.1',
-        'contextily~=1.2.0',
-        'dask[complete]~=2021.10.0',
-        'geopandas~=0.10.2',
-        'h5netcdf~=0.11.0',
-        'hvplot~=0.7.3',
-        'matplotlib~=3.4.3',
-        'nc-time-axis~=1.4.0',
-        'netCDF4~=1.5.7',
-        'numba~=0.53.1',
-        'numpy~=1.20.3',
-        'pandas~=1.3.4',
-        'pathvalidate~=2.5.0',
-        'psutil~=5.8.0',
-        'pyarrow~=6.0.0',
-        'pyomo~=6.2',
-        'python-benedict~=0.24.3',
-        'regex~=2021.10.23',
-        'requests~=2.26.0',
-        'rioxarray~=0.8.0',
-        'tqdm~=4.62.3',
-        'xarray~=0.19.0'
+        'bmipy>=2.0',
+        'click>=8.0.1',
+        'contextily>=1.2.0',
+        'dask[complete]>=2021.10.0',
+        'geopandas>=0.10.2',
+        'h5netcdf>=0.11.0',
+        'hvplot>=0.7.3',
+        'matplotlib>=3.4.3',
+        'nc-time-axis>=1.4.0',
+        'netCDF4>=1.5.7',
+        'numba>=0.53.1',
+        'numpy>=1.20.3',
+        'pandas>=1.3.4',
+        'pathvalidate>=2.5.0',
+        'psutil>=5.8.0',
+        'pyarrow>=6.0.0',
+        'pyomo>=6.2',
+        'python-benedict>=0.24.3',
+        'regex>=2021.10.23',
+        'requests>=2.26.0',
+        'rioxarray>=0.8.0',
+        'tqdm>=4.62.3',
+        'xarray>=0.19.0'
     ],
     extras_require={
         'dev': [
-            'build~=0.7.0',
-            'nbsphinx~=0.8.7',
-            'recommonmark~=0.7.1',
-            'setuptools~=58.3.0',
-            'sphinx~=4.2.0',
-            'sphinx-panels~=0.6.0',
-            'sphinx-rtd-theme~=1.0.0',
-            'twine~=3.4.2'
+            'build>=0.7.0',
+            'nbsphinx>=0.8.7',
+            'recommonmark>=0.7.1',
+            'setuptools>=58.3.0',
+            'sphinx>=4.2.0',
+            'sphinx-panels>=0.6.0',
+            'sphinx-rtd-theme>=1.0.0',
+            'twine>=3.4.2'
         ]
     }
 )