Corpus Christi, Texas, is about to run dangerously short of water, a development nobody saw coming aside from all the people who have seen it coming for decades.

The Gulf Coast city is a case study in how not to anticipate and adjust to a hotter world, a cautionary tale for municipalities across the country and the world. Even as the city struggled to meet its booming water needs, it invited fossil-fuel companies to guzzle its water as the industry helped to heat the planet, making reservoirs run dry even faster. Ironically, some of that same fossil-fuel industry risks grinding to a halt as a result. Winners are scarce in battles over dwindling resources.