 Wright 's initial report concluded that drainage would not be difficult . Building canals would be more cost effective than constructing a dike around Lake Okeechobee . The soil would be fertile after drainage , the climate would not be adversely affected , and the enormous lake would be able to <unk> farmland in the dry season . Wright based his conclusions on 15 years of weather data since the recording of precipitation began in the 1890s . His calculations concentrated on the towns of Jupiter and Kissimmee . Since weather data had not been recorded for any area within the Everglades , none was included in the report . Furthermore , the heaviest year of rain on record , Wright assumed , was atypical , and he urged that canals should not be constructed to bear that amount of water due to the expense . Wright 's calculations for what canals should be able to hold were off by 55 percent . His most fundamental mistake , however , was designing the canals for a maximum rainfall of 4 inches ( 10 cm ) of water a day , based on flawed data for July and August rainfall , despite available data that indicated torrential <unk> of 10 inches ( 25 cm ) and 12 inches ( 30 cm ) had occurred in 24 @-@ hour periods . 
