A combination of thymol and sodium bisulfate was found to be an effective biocidal agent against strains of Burkholderia cepacia and of Xanthomonas maltophilia that were found in the space shuttle water system. Potassium iodide (KI), the biocidal agent used in the past, had a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 50,000 ppm against the two B. cepacia (541 STS-81 and 1119 STS-91) strains, whereas that of thymol and sodium bisulfate was 2,400 and 950 ppm, which was 21 and 53 times lower than that of KI for B. cepacia, respectively. The MIC value for the combination of thymol and sodium bisulfate was 4 times lower than that for thymol or sodium bisulfate alone against B. cepacia (541 STS-81, 1119 STS-91) or Pseudomonas cepacia (ATCC 31941). The fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) of the combination of thymol and sodium bisulfate for all organisms tested was less than 0.5, indicating a strong synergistic effect.