One of the major potential environmental impacts from synthetic fuel production plants and conventional petroleum refinement operations is the spillage of the refined product into natural waters. Impacts upon aquatic ecosystems resulting from spills of synthetic fuel would likely be different from those associated with conventional petroleum since products extracted from coal or shale are generally richer in phenolics, aromatic amines and other soluble organic compounds. Also, synfuels have higher water solubilities than equivalent petroleum products giving the potential for higher water concentrations of hydrocarbons. This study tested the effects of the water soluble fractions (WSFs) of a shale diesel fuel mixture (SDFM) and a petroleum diesel fuel mixture (PDFM) on the growth of fecal coliform bacteria, the group used almost universally as an indicator of bacteriological water quality. The WSF was tested instead of whole oil because acute toxicity results primarily from this fraction. A wild group of fecal coliform bacteria was used since the objective was to observe effects upon this indicator group encountered in the environment instead of pure laboratory cultures by the routine ambient monitoring and measurement technique of membrane filter colony counts as employed by most water quality management agencies.