San Diego County introduced former U.S. diplomat Bridget Premont as its first Pollution Crisis Chief at a news conference Monday, tapping her to lead its response to the Tijuana River sewage crisis as preliminary findings estimate the pollution costs the regional economy up to $503.5 million a year.
According to the county, Premont will coordinate infrastructure planning across agencies and pursue state and federal funding. She will also coordinate emergency responses during sewage spikes, chair a Sewage Crisis Interdepartmental Task Force and maintain a public funding dashboard.
In an interview after the news conference, Premont said her immediate focus will be on existing infrastructure, the county’s Capture and Cleanup Initiative — constructing a wastewater treatment plant of its own on the river — and data showing what the region is risking, “both in terms of the economy and also in terms of public health.”
Premont, 54, is a career Foreign Service officer who most recently served as acting chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bujumbura, Burundi, according to a county statement. From 2017 to 2021, she was political and economic chief at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana and also served as acting consul general. The county said she helped secure more than $340 million in U.S. and Mexican federal funding to fight cross-border pollution.
“Let me start by saying, I am familiar with Tijuana River Valley pollution,” Premont said outside the County Administration Center. “In my new role, I hope to coordinate, but also accelerate action on Tijuana River pollution.”
Premont, who said she started last Wednesday, pointed to the season ahead.
“This year, a super El Niño year, more than ever, we need to innovate and implement plans for the immediate and longer terms,” she said.
She said she is “really optimistic” that additional infrastructure can be in place within 18 months. A county official later followed up to clarify that infrastructure includes the Saturn Boulevard box culvert fix that is currently the epicenter of air pollution in the South Bay — expected to come online in the next 18–24 months.
She also said she hopes to set a positive tone with Mexican officials.
“I don’t want people to think that we will forget about Mexico,” she said. “That’s the part of this puzzle that I know the best.”
For decades, millions of gallons of raw sewage and industrial waste have flowed across the border from Mexico each day through the Tijuana River. County officials have said more than 200 billion gallons of polluted water crossed into the U.S. between 2018 and 2026. The water carried sewage, industrial chemicals, pesticides and “forever chemicals.”
UC San Diego Scripps researchers estimate the water pollution causes about 34,000 illnesses annually in Imperial Beach alone. The county’s southernmost beach had been closed 1,728 consecutive days as of September, according to the Surfrider Foundation. San Diego Coastkeeper has reported finding 10 to 20 industrial chemicals per sampling event in the lower watershed.
Air quality has also worsened. Hydrogen sulfide readings at the Nestor monitoring station near Berry Elementary School exceeded the county’s 30 parts-per-billion safety threshold more than 10% of the time this year, up from under 2% in 2024. Readings peaked at 915 ppb on June 2 after a pipeline collapse in Tijuana.
Last month, a draft report from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that short-term hydrogen sulfide exposure near the river is a public health hazard. It was the first such finding by a federal public health agency.
Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said the crisis spans agencies and governments on both sides of an international border.
“And if everyone is just responsible for one piece of the puzzle, who’s responsible for putting the whole puzzle together?” she said. “That’s why we’ve created a pollution crisis chief here at San Diego County because a plan on paper will not clean up our beaches.”
The board created the post Jan. 28 as part of an $8.75 million funding package approved unanimously. It is based in the County Counsel’s office and has a salary of $295,000.
Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said the hire and an economic impact study were pillars of a five-point plan she introduced before joining the board.
Preliminary findings from that study, conducted by ECOnorthwest, estimate the crisis costs the region $125.6 million to $503.5 million a year. The study projects unmitigated losses of $7.9 billion over 20 years.
“This is not just a public health and environmental emergency. It is a full-scale economic disaster,” Aguirre said.
Lawson-Remer said Premont’s first priority will be the Tijuana River Capture and Cleanup Initiative. Supervisors approved it 4-1 on Sept. 1, launching an 18-month, $1.8 million engineering analysis for a county-run system to capture and treat polluted river water. Aguirre said Measure B on the November ballot would fund the initiative if voters approve it.
Aguirre said Premont will also prepare a package seeking state and federal emergency declarations.
“For years, South Bay families were told this was a federal problem, a Mexico problem, anyone’s problem but ours. Those days are over,” Aguirre said.
County Counsel Damon Brown said Premont will work alongside Sparsh Khandeshi, the new assistant county counsel and former acting director of the air pollution division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
©2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.