0.78 - 0.85                -0.38
  Q2335+1501     23:35:44.19   $+$15:01:18.37   2015-05-30        $2\times 800$                                             600RI     4.80       1.673    0.83 - 0.93                 0.43
  Q2353-0028     23:53:21.62   $-$00:28:40.67   2015-07-11        $4\times 1800$                                            600RI     -2.30      1.143    0.90 - 0.95                 0.35
  -------------- ------------- ---------------- ----------------- -------------------------------------------------------- ------- ----------- --------- ------------- ----------------------------------

We select targets with metallicities $[\mathrm{M}/\mathrm{H}]_\mathrm{abs} \gtrsim -1$ as inferred from relative element ratios measured in high resolution spectra (Table \[tab:refparam\] and references therein), and that have a tentative galaxy counterpart based on projected separation and photometric redshift solutions consistent with $z_{\text{abs}}$ [@Rao2011]. Zn is minimally depleted onto dust which allows us to use it as a direct tracer-element for the absorption-metallicity (but see [@DeCia2018] for evidence of marginal depletion of Zn onto dust grains, in which case Zn represents a lower limit). For objects where we only have access to Fe and Cr measurements, we infer the absorption metallicity by applying a constant correction factor of 0.3 dex to account for depletion and/or $\alpha-$enhancement [@Rafelski2012 our Section \[sec:metallicity\]]. The physical properties of the targets are summarised in Table \[tab:refparam\].

At $z < 1.65$, Ly$\alpha$ falls in the UV. This restricts $\mathrm{N}_\mathrm{\ion{H}{i}}$ -measurements to the systems observed with expensive and competitive space-based observatories. However, damped absorbers are accompanied by low-ionisation 