is there an English equivelant for this Dutch idiom

[Jacques Schenk]

Hi,
I'm looking for an Englisgh idiom which is equivelant toe a Dutch one which litterly translated would be" Mopping the floor with the tap wide open"

In other words, trying to fight (the symtoms of) a problem when the problems are comming in faster then you can solve them.

Thanks a lot for your help

Jacques

[BobK]

It's not quite the same (as there's no sense of ongoing waste), but useless remedies (specifically, too late) are often referred to as 'Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted [=escaped]'. A trivial 'solution' to patch up a continuing problem is called 'a Band-Aid solution'. I don't know of one that says everything the Dutch one does.

b

[flinging haggis]

I've heard and used "empying the ocean with a thimble" before. It's kind of close to 'dweilen met de kraan open' I suppose. It's not a very widely used expression, though.

Pascal

[Charlie Bernstein]

I like:

It's hard to remember you're draining the swamp when you're up to your ass in alligators.

[jirikoo]

"floging a dead horse"
"it is like talking to a dead phone"