Spring water is usually naturally filtered by passing through porous rocks on it's way out. In general it's gonna be cleaner than water from a river or a well, but of course not all springs are equal. Often you get delicious minerals dissolved in it which can be touted as "healthier" but mostly just taste different. Sometimes you get harmful compounds leeched into it. And the actual collection point usually isn't a rock, the water generally pools somewhere, it collects in a groundwater reservoir where bacteria can get into it.

So basically you still want to test a spring regularly to see if it's safe, and filter/boil it if you don't have the ability to test it.

But you know. If you are in a less developed place, and more or less already adapted to ordinary bacteria there, a spring in an elevated area that doesn't catch runoff is gonna be about the best source of water you are gonna get.