The whole designer water thing is getting out of control. We just received in our office a box of NUI Kid Water.

Water for kids?

Yep, apparently to make a buck, NUI (pronounced “New-ee,” Hawaiian for “big and abundant”) decided it would be a good idea to add sugar and juice to water, make it a fun color and sell it to kids. Um, last I checked water with 40 percent juice is usually called a juice drink. Doesn’t the FDA have rules about such things?

Boy, just what a parent wants just when child obesity is making daily newspaper headlines. Water with sugar in it. I’m sure kids who drink this stuff WILL end up big and abundant after not too long.

With random surfer cartoon characters and animals on the box, the 5-year-old tester we offered it to knew instantly that it was intended for her. But upon opening the first of three bottles, “Purple Power,” (90 calories and 16 grams of sugar in a 10-ounce serving) it took just one sniff for her to nix even trying it. It smells sort of like weak Kool-Aid or grape Gatorade.

The “Raging Red” at least passed her sniff test, but after a tiny taste she shoved the bottle toward her mother and said “YOU taste it,” looking a bit disgusted.

Her mother agreed it tasted icky.

Finally “Outrageous Orange” got past the first couple of swallows, but she’d have to be pretty thirsty to drink more than that.

About the only thing going for this product is that it’s fortified with a number of vitamins and calcium, but with the added sugar, I’d rather my kids just drink from the tap and eat an apple.