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Bridget Premont was introduced as the new San Diego County Pollution Crisis Chief on October 19, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nSan Diego County introduced former U.S. diplomat Bridget Premont as its first Pollution Crisis Chief at a press 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In an interview after the news conference, Premont said her immediate focus will be on existing infrastructure, the county\u2019s Capture and Cleanup Initiative \u2014 constructing a wastewater treatment plant of its own on the river \u2014 and data showing what the region is risking, \u201cboth in terms of the economy and also in terms of public health.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me start by saying, I am familiar with Tijuana River Valley pollution,\u201d Premont said outside the County Administration Center. \u201cIn my new role, I hope to coordinate, but also accelerate action on Tijuana River pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Premont, who said she started last Wednesday, pointed to the season ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, a super El Ni\u00f1o year, more than ever, we need to innovate and implement plans for the immediate and longer terms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said she is \u201creally optimistic\u201d that additional infrastructure can be in place within 18 months, such as the Saturn Boulevard box culvert fix that is currently the epicenter of air pollution in the South Bay. She also said she hopes to set a positive tone with Mexican officials.<\/p>\n
Bridget Premont was introduced as the new San Diego County Pollution Crisis Chief on October 19, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want people to think that we will forget about Mexico,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the part of this puzzle that I know the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201cforever chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n
UC San Diego Scripps researchers estimate the water pollution causes about 34,000 illnesses annually in Imperial Beach alone. The county\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Air quality has also worsened. Hydrogen sulfide readings at the Nestor monitoring station near Berry Elementary School exceeded the county\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said the crisis spans agencies and governments on both sides of an international border.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if everyone is just responsible for one piece of the puzzle, who\u2019s responsible for putting the whole puzzle together?\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve created a pollution crisis chief here at San Diego County because a plan on paper will not clean up our beaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s office and has a salary of $295,000.<\/p>\n
Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said the hire and an economic impact study were pillars of a five-point plan she introduced before joining the board.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just a public health and environmental emergency. It is a full-scale economic disaster,\u201d Aguirre said.<\/p>\n
Lawson-Remer said Premont\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Aguirre said Premont will also prepare a package seeking state and federal emergency declarations.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, South Bay families were told this was a federal problem, a Mexico problem, anyone\u2019s problem but ours. Those days are over,\u201d Aguirre said.<\/p>\n
County Counsel Damon Brown said Premont will work alongside Sparsh\u00a0Khandeshi, the new assistant county counsel and former acting director of the air pollution division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego County introduced former U.S. diplomat Bridget Premont as its first Pollution Crisis Chief at a press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1697,7,643,1570,929,181,23,100,28973,74,84,76,75,4067,3055,4931,1696],"class_list":["post-501645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-baja-california","tag-california","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-imperial-beach","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-otay-mesa","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-ysidro","tag-south-county","tag-tijuana","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}