Agree with GS, and here is why:
TEMPERATURE and AGITATION are the mechanisms by which we come to that melty yumminess.
The ice water(or when people use dry ice in the water to achieve colder faster temps) freezes the trichomes, they get brittle and break off. they are then collected in the screens
A situation in which water is a solvent would be when cocaine HCl is dissolved in water before being basified with NaOH or NaHCO3 to make crack or freebase.
Another example of solvents is when butane is used to dissolve the THC, or ether is used to dissolve the BHO to wash, or isomerize.
In this situation, the water is just a carrier for the physical trichomes.
@Bubbleman. I DO think some stuff is dissolved in the water, but not what we want. The water goes through the screens. Some plant fats, chlorophyll, even dirt. Not saying you dont know your shit, just disagreeing.
Now, to go medicate on some bubble
Namaste