diff --git a/scraperwiki/sql.py b/scraperwiki/sql.py
index 6507186..138fdea 100644
--- a/scraperwiki/sql.py
+++ b/scraperwiki/sql.py
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ def new_transaction(cls):
     @classmethod
     def reflect_metadata(cls):
         if cls.metadata is None:
-            cls.metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData(bind=cls.engine)
-        cls.metadata.reflect()
+            cls.metadata = sqlalchemy.MetaData()
+        cls.metadata.reflect(bind=cls.engine)
 
     @classmethod
     def check_last_committed(cls):
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ def save(unique_keys, data, table_name='swdata'):
         raise TypeError("Data must be a single mapping or an iterable "
                         "of mappings")
 
-    insert = _State.table.insert(prefixes=['OR REPLACE'])
+    insert = sqlalchemy.insert(_State.table).prefix_with('OR REPLACE')
     for row in data:
         if not isinstance(row, Mapping):
             raise TypeError("Elements of data must be mappings, got {}".format(
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ def save_var(name, value):
         keep_existing=True
     )
 
-    vars_table.create(bind=connection, checkfirst=True)
+    vars_table.create(connection, checkfirst=True)
 
     column_type = get_column_type(value)
 
@@ -265,8 +265,9 @@ def save_var(name, value):
                   # value_blob=Blob(value),
                   type=column_type.__visit_name__.lower())
 
-    vars_table.insert(prefixes=['OR REPLACE']).values(**values).execute()
-
+    stmt = vars_table.insert(prefixes=['OR REPLACE']).values(**values)
+    connection.execute(stmt)
+    _State.new_transaction()
 
 def get_var(name, default=None):
     """
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b59629b..e9d532e 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def has_external_dependency(name):
 try:
     from setuptools import setup
     config['install_requires'] = ['requests', 'six',
-                                  'sqlalchemy==1.3.0', 'alembic==1.14.0'],
+                                  'sqlalchemy==1.4.54', 'alembic==1.17.2'],
 except ImportError:
     pass