We present results from an efficient , non-traditional survey to discover damped Ly \alpha ( DLA ) absorption-line systems with neutral hydrogen column densities N _ { HI } \geq 2 \times 10 ^ { 20 } atoms cm ^ { -2 } and redshifts z < 1.65 .
Contrary to previous studies at higher redshift that showed a decrease in the cosmological mass density of neutral gas in DLA absorbers , \Omega _ { DLA } , with time , our results indicate that \Omega _ { DLA } is consistent with remaining constant from redshifts z \approx 4 to z \approx 0.5 .
There is no evidence that \Omega _ { DLA } is approaching the value at z = 0 .
Other interesting results from the survey are also presented .