WHITTLESEA residents will have an opportunity to contribute to redevelopments at Toorourrong Reservoir.

Melbourne Water will host a series of community forums to discuss the redevelopments starting this week.

City of Whittlesea councillors asked Heritage Victoria to preserve the hand-built bluestone wall and spillway as they were some of the only remaining historical monuments in the area after Black Saturday.

But Melbourne Water Heritage co-ordinator Paul Balassone said the site needed to be completely upgraded.

“It doesn’t comply with Australian standards,” Mr Balassone said.

“We don’t want to downplay the loss and we take heritage seriously.

“(But) that doesn’t change the fact that the work needs to go on.”

Without the redevelopments, there is a risk of water seeping through the wall, overtopping and flooding the area.

“We’re talking a wall of water,” Mr Balassone said.

“The other risk is that the water damages the heritage structure and we lose it all.”

Melbourne Water will go ahead with plans to build an additional 2.5metre-high concrete wall on the existing structure and rebuild the spill walls.

But Mr Balassone said bluestone would be stockpiled and labelled by an archaeologist for community use.

He said Melbourne Water was hoping for contributions from residents for ways to preserve the 125-year-old stonework.

Melbourne Water will also suggest options for the bluestone, which include using it to create a feature wall in front of the existing spillway.

“This is an opportunity for community involvement,” Mr Balassone said.

“We’re open to those discussions and we want to have them.”

Melbourne Water will begin upgrades this week with the scour gate, as it has no heritage impact.

The first community forum will be held at 7pm Thursday 9 September at the Whittlesea Community Centre.