Up to half a million dollars will be spent on a study of water security in a remote town on South Australia's west coast.

The federal government has announced it will allocate $500,000 for a water security feasibility study in the remote community of Scotdesco, on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain. 

The town’s roughly 50 residents currently rely on rainwater in catchment dams for access to drinking water. 

Scotdesco Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Robert Larking says the La Nina seasons over the past two years have provided some relief, the town can still completely run out of water.

“I'm very thrilled with the announcement, and I'd just like to congratulate the Labor Party for listening to our concerns,” he said.

“We've been lucky enough to have some rain these past couple of months, and we're sitting on probably six and a half foot - so out there, it's probably half full.

“In the past five to six years we've been in drought, so we were probably only receiving about a third of our rainfall, 100ml, a year.”

South Australian Council of Social Service chief Ross Womersley says more efforts will be required to address wider issues in remote communities across the country. 

“Scotdesco has for a long time struggled to deal with the issues of water security, and like many remote communities, the issue of long-term access to affordable, high-quality water supply remains a really crucial issue,” he said.

“We think the investment in the research around helping Scotdesco deal with their circumstances is the starting point to a much bigger conversation about helping remote South Australia deal with long-term access to affordable, potable water supply for drinking purposes.”