Could the ocean water be purified?

Answer 1

Ocean water can be, and is in fact, purified every day, most commonly in "Desalination Plants". Many are located in the Middle East where there is simutaneously a significant need for water for drinking and irrigation, and the ready availability of relatively cheap energy (since water purification requires a lot of energy). The appropriate search term in Wikipedia is "Desalination Plants". Of course it is trivial to purify ocean water on a small scale with simple distillation and filtering such as in a chem lab. Another method of purification that is used is called "Reverse Osmosis", which may also be found under that entry in Wikipedia. Answer:

Natural desalinization of ocean water occurs continuously worldwide - it is called evaporation. The vaporized water condenses and falls as rain or snow.

As far as purifying the ocean water to remove the various pollutants (oils, heavy metals, plastics, various chemicals, sewage) and leaving the "pure" water in place for the ecosystems of the fish and other sea animals - nobody is even thinking of it. The best work done so far is to limit the addition of fresh pollutants and hope the sea's natural processes handle the existing contamination

Answer 2

Yes, ocean water can be purified through desalination processes, such as reverse osmosis or distillation, to remove salts and impurities. This purified water can then be used for drinking, agriculture, and industrial purposes. However, desalination can be expensive and energy-intensive.