Rushing floodwaters move with terrible speed, as Manoa residents can surely attest from the flood of 2004.

Government, by contrast, waddles along on feet of lead — if it moves at all.

This appears to be the case, at least, with the handling of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study on Manoa flood mitigation, completed a year ago.

What has happened in that year? Not nearly enough.

Nobody can blame Manoa residents for growing impatient, with $5 million already available for a mitigation project. But officials won't commit to short-term projects until liability disputes are settled. Considering how long this same argument has confounded the proper management of Kawai Nui Marsh, bickering could continue for years.

The city and state have been meeting to pursue comprehensive O'ahu stream management solutions. We can only hope officials make progress toward solutions, and not wade around too long in the liability quagmire.

A broad plan dealing with flooding concerns in Windward, North Shore and other districts, in addition to Manoa, is what's needed.

But that doesn't mean that short-term fixes can go to the back burner. And the response to those needs has led many taxpayers to believe that's exactly what's happened to the "quick" fixes. The city says it needs more time to examine these options, but that seems pointless, since the corps would do its own detailed study once actual work begins.

The corps' Manoa study identifies relatively low-cost strategies for improving the stream capacity in the valley, improvements that are long overdue. Among the options are levees and a structure designed to drop the channel at the Woodlawn Drive Bridge.

The city certainly could make improvements at points where stream capacity can only handle a 10-year flood. With high property values islandwide, it's unacceptable that the city should allow such shoddy protection for property owners who, after all, pay taxes for precisely this reason.

What should help illuminate the path to a general settlement is the realization that drainage is, by and large, the responsibility of local government, although state coffers have been tapped secondarily.

If in Hawai'i the two sides want to fight over this, that should not hold up short-term relief. To do so is a shirking of public duty.