Link to full press conference

San Diego County is taking a bold new approach to its decades-long regional Tijuana River Valley sewage crisis causing annual losses up to $503.5 million by hiring Bridget Premont as the first County Pollution Crisis Chief. The former binational diplomat, who has strong environmental knowledge, will be based in the County Counsel’s office to maximize local and legal impact. 

Flanked by San Diego County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, Board Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre and  County Counsel Damon Brown, the former Acting Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, was introduced this afternoon outside the County Administration Building where Premont is already on the job. 

“In this job I hope to achieve something really concrete for the people of San Diego, using skills I’ve honed as a diplomat - negotiation, organizational leadership, and especially, accountability,” said Bridget Premont, who previously helped unlock $340 million in U.S. and Mexican federal funding to fight cross-border pollution. “I’m ambitious that we can fix this.  And I’m optimistic, because San Diego has really come together over the last few years to raise the profile of this issue. That shared mission focus is what it will take to solve the problem.  I believe we are nearing our long-term solution, and that shared mission focus is what it will take to solve the problem.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors recently commissioned an economic impact study revealing the sewage crisis is causing annual losses up to $503.5 million to the regional community. If it is not fixed, the financial toll will reach $7.9 billion over the next two decades. The preliminary report was presented earlier this month to the San Diego Board of Supervisors. 

Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said the new position is part of a broader push to move beyond temporary fixes and develop lasting solutions to the sewage crisis, including County-led efforts to build new infrastructure on the U.S. side of the border to intercept and treat polluted Tijuana River water.

“For decades, San Diego families have paid the price for a sewage crisis that government after government has failed to solve," said Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer. “We're done waiting for someone else to fix it. We're moving forward with plans to capture and clean polluted river water on our side of the border. But we need more than a plan on paper. We need the expertise to navigate the engineering, funding, and international diplomacy it takes to get this done. That's why we're building a team dedicated to turning plans into action.” 

Board Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre said the preliminary findings from that study confirm what South Bay families and business owners have known and felt for years—this is not just a public health and environmental emergency, it is a full-scale economic disaster.  

"We are keeping our promise to confront the Tijuana River Valley sewage crisis head-on—delivering a comprehensive economic study and appointing a Pollution Crisis Chief," said Supervisor Paloma Aguirre. "This is a full-scale economic disaster draining $500 million annually from our regional economy. Local business owners in Imperial Beach and across the South Bay are hanging on by a thread, and doing nothing is simply costing us far too much.” 

Before joining the County, Premont served as a U.S. career Foreign Service officer. Most recently she was acting Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bujumbura, Burundi where she was responsible for managing U.S. foreign relations, assistance, and the security of embassy workers, including 26 U.S. diplomats, their families, and more than 250 local staff and embassy guards.

Prior to serving as the Chief of Mission, Premont was the Director of the State Department’s Office of Environmental Quality in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. She will bring her experience leading international environmental negotiations, commercial diplomacy, and the management of $110 million in environmental grants to the County’s efforts to address the international sewage problem plaguing the Tijuana River Valley and South County residents.

 Premont spent significant parts of her career directly advocating for change in the Tijuana River Valley. From 2017 to 2021, she was the Political and Economic Chief at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, where she also served as the Acting Consul General during that period. Her efforts there helped secure more than $340 million in U.S. and Mexican federal funding to fight cross border water pollution.

Premont’s key responsibilities include: 

•  Coordinating with federal, state and local agencies to prioritize planning for local and cross-border infrastructure upgrades.

• Advocating to secure federal and state funding through grants or appropriations for sewage crisis mitigation.

•  Coordinating real-time emergency response when sewage discharges spike.

•  Chairing a Sewage Crisis Interdepartmental Task Force.

• Establishing and maintaining a public funding dashboard to assure transparency in how resources are leveraged.

• Coordinating press briefings, community meetings and bilingual information campaigns.