Ahh... because I didn't fully commit to the concept? No wait! See below...
Yes, and don't call me Shirley... Okay, my thinking was that closer in, surface volatiles would have eventually sublimated off and reached escape velocity under the higher temperature conditions. So further out, colder, and less gravity would be required to allow water ice to freeze back to the ground at a rate higher than the ice water vapor (steam? Well, weird to call it steam when it's cold gas) would escape.
In our solar system the 'example' would be Ceres (Size 1) and though it may be half ice, the bright surface splotches are a briny silicate rich material, not pure - or even close to pure - water ice. Hate to argue from a single example, but that's all we got. Most of Traveller is based off the single example of Earth, and who knows how skewed that will turn out to be.