Some etymological accidents say more than others.

The presence of “numb” in “number” owes nothing to the evolution of either word, but speaks volumes about what seems to be a current malaise over Greater Victoria’s sewage treatment plans.

Maybe we’ve been bombarded by too many numbers over the years to see any meaning in any of them anymore. That might explain the collective yawn that greeted last week’s news that the cost of treating our waste water could be radically less than earlier projected. If so, we need to wake from our collective reverie, and soon.

The decisions -- and figures -- will come fast and furious over the next three months as the Capital Regional District races to meet the province’s deadline to have a business plan in place on sewage treatment by Dec. 31.

The new cost estimate is a neck-snapper -- the $715 million plan that’s now going forward for more detailed design work is almost $500 million less than the $1.2 billion projection hanging over our heads the past two years.

While that alone is something to take notice of, the numbers that will mean the most to taxpayers should be revealed in October. That’s when when CRD directors consider how the costs will be doled out among municipalities. It should become clear how customers will get billed -- and for how much.

Even if the reduced cost estimate is borne out when the project goes to tender, sewage treatment will still be the single most expensive government undertaking in Greater Victoria’s history. Planning it has been a complicated process, now made even more so by the increasingly realistic prospect that West Shore municipalities may drop out and find their own solution.

For now, though, consider one last number: 15. That’s how many weeks remain before the CRD must submit a plan to the province.